The Best Soy Latte
by Pedagogie
Summary: Title says it all! Okay so it doesn’t. This is a CharlieTonks. Hopefully not all fluff. Seriously, it has depth. Not deep depth, just depth. R&R! Ch 112 were written preHBP so they are slightly out of canon. It will end up mostly in canon however
1. Time of Your Life

The Best Soy Latte  
  
Summary: Title says it all! Okay so it doesn't. This is a Charlie/Tonks. Hopefully not all fluff. Seriously, it has depth. Not deep depth, just depth. R&R!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Harry Potter universe, so sue me...or rather don't. The lyrics don't belong to me either. They belong to Green Day.  
  
Rating: PG-13 for language and for substance abuse sometime in the future and probably for some sexuality also in the future, not sure though. Also for 'thematic elements' (wow I feel all official). Does anyone look at ratings when they pick stories? Just wondering.  
  
A/n: Well, if you've gotten this far then you should know that this is set at the very beginning of Voldemort's second power fix, but most of it takes place in 'flashback'/memory mode during Charlie and Tonks's school days. Let's see, all the math is relative to what makes sense to me so if you think there's something seriously wrong with just holler. At the beginning of each chapter I'm gonna have a song, mostly because it's fun for me and I like music. The songs will usually have something to do with the chapter, use your imagination. I don't think I have any Mary Sues but then again I'm not entirely sure what a Mary Sue is. I've considered doing a C/T almost since the ship occurred to me when I read book 5. At that point I had no idea that anyone had written them before. Oh and if anyone can tell me how to do italics, I will love you forever, until I know, thoughts will be in sets of ''. Anyhow here it is. Enjoy!   
  
"Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)"  
  
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.  
  
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.  
  
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why.  
  
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time.  
  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.  
  
I hope you had the time of your life.  
  
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind.  
  
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time.  
  
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial.  
  
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.  
  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.  
  
I hope you had the time of your life.  
  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.  
  
I hope you had the time of your life.  
  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.  
  
I hope you had the time of your life.  
  
They both stood there for a few moments. "Sirius," she said finally, staring up at her cousin.  
  
"Nymphie. Or is it Tonks now?"  
  
"Tonks mostly."  
  
More silence.  
  
"It's been a long time little sister," he said finally. She grinned suddenly, the old pet name breaking the tension.  
  
"Fourteen years, right?" she asked.  
  
"Yup, you were - what? Seven?"  
  
"Eight," she corrected.  
  
"And now?"  
  
"Twenty-two."  
  
It was the first meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. With the return of You-Know-Who and the Ministry denying that the dark lord had come back to power, Albus Dumbledore had decided to reinstate the order, a group dedicated to fighting You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters. Dumbledore had decided to start it off with a get together so everyone could get acquainted. Or reacquainted.  
  
Nymphadora Tonks and Sirius Black had known each other since her birth. He had been the fourth person to hold her, first a nurse, then her mother, her father, and then Sirius. He had been given a month of detentions for sneaking out of Hogwarts for the occasion. When she was eight he was sent to Azkaban. She had spent fourteen years hearing stories about how evil he was, agreeing with people's comments outwardly, but never quite believing them. Then she had found out. She had been right to not believe them. And that brought them to the present.  
  
"We should talk," said Sirius. "We have a lot of catching up to do."  
  
She nodded and let him lead her to a seat.  
  
"How's your mother?" he asked.  
  
"Okay I guess. I haven't seen her in a while. She's not like she used to be, Sirius. After you got arrested...it was like she didn't know how to function anymore. You were her hope you know. I guess she figured if you could be so good...even with that family..." she was babbling. "Now she thinks everyone's bad, 'specially me. Anyhow, it doesn't matter. I don't see her much now that I've finished my training.'  
  
"I heard you passed Auror tests last year."  
  
"Yeah," she said proudly, "I'm the youngest Auror in the Ministry. No one's gotten into the Academy since I did."  
  
"Congrats!"  
  
"So, what about you?"  
  
"I was in jail for twelve years and I've been on the run for two. Not much to tell."  
  
There was an awkward sort of silence.  
  
"I was talking to Bill Weasley before you came," said Sirius suddenly and a bit randomly. "He said he knew you at Hogwarts."  
  
"Yeah. Bill was in my house. Different year though. His brother...his brother was in my year though." She had a funny look on her face.  
  
"Were you friends with...whatever his name was...the brother?" Sirius knew there was something up. He knew he might be being nosy but he was curious.  
  
"Charlie, his name's Charlie, and, yeah, we were pretty good friends."  
  
"More than friends?"  
  
"You're prying cousin." Tonks growled, obviously embarrassed.  
  
"C'mon," teased Sirius, "you can tell your favorite relative."  
  
"But I'm not going to."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because it's none of your bloody damned business, that's why."  
  
"Okay, so more than friends, but you broke up. It was a crappy break-up and you haven't spoken to him since."  
  
"I never said that."  
  
"Maybe not directly. I know all about breakups. I was quite the ladies' man in my day."  
  
Tonks raised an eyebrow, "You were, were you?"  
  
"Yup. So am I right, about you and Charlie?"  
  
"Yes," said Tonks irritably, "but that's not the whole story."  
  
"Care to tell me 'the whole story'?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Plllleeeeaaaassssse," he begged, pouting.  
  
Tonks laughed in spite of herself. "Alright, but you have to listen like a good boy. No interrupting," she said in a mock patronizing voice.  
  
"Of course I will Auntie Dora," said Sirius.  
  
"And get comfortable, it's a long story." He nodded. "I met Charlie in our first year--"  
  
"How?" asked her one-man audience.  
  
"Merlin's beard Sirius! That was only the first sentence! I told you not to interrupt."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Anyway, knew each other from class and stuff, but we didn't really meet until October. We both had detention with—"  
  
"Detention? In October of your first year? Even James and I didn't have a detention until November. I remember what for too. On Halloween we—"  
  
"Dammit, Sirius let me finish!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"We both had detention with Filch..."  
  
'In detention already,' thought Dora as she walked down the corridor to the kitchens. She grinned suddenly; 'Oh isn't Filch the brilliant one. Having me wash dishes for punishment. Mum says that house-elves work in the kitchens. As if they would let me do work that they could do.' Filch was waiting in the room off the Great Hall. He didn't say a word to her as he tickled the pear in the proper portrait. The portrait moved aside.  
  
"I'll be back for you at 1 o'clock and I better not hear that the two of you've been lettin' the elves do all the work," said Filch as he left her.  
  
Dora smirked, 'No you won't be hearing about it'. Then she frowned, 'What did he mean "the two of you,"' she wondered.  
  
Shrugging she walked into the kitchens. They were huge. In the middle, the five tables that corresponded with the house tables and the high table in the Great Hall were covered in dirty dishes that were being cleared away by dozens of elves. Around the rest of the room were stoves, cupboards, and millions of... "WHOA!" Dora, in her awe of the immensity of the space, had tripped over a house-elf and was sent flying into the Hufflepuff table. She lay dazed for a moment listening to anxious house-elves squeaking. Then, a hand appeared in front of her face. A hand with no visible body. 'Merlin's beard, I'm seeing things. I must have a concussion.' She thought, panicking. 'Or maybe I'm going insane.'  
  
"You okay?" came a voice.  
  
"Huh?" was the incredibly intelligent response. 'I'm hearing things too...'  
  
Someone (human, not elven) sat down next to her. Wait, there was a person attached the voice and the hand. She wasn't mad. She sat up, smacked her head on the table, clapped a hand to her head, and looked around, determined to straighten out her extremely confused brain. A bunch of house- elves were crowded around her looking distressed. A boy sat beside her looking slightly amused. She recognized him. His name was Charlie Weasley and he was one of her fellow Gryffindor first years. She couldn't really get a good look at him, lights were still flashing in her eyes, but she did make-out nearly fluorescently bright red hair, loads of freckles, and hazel eyes.  
  
Charlie, seeing that she was all right, stood and (once again) offered his hand to help her up. This time, Dora took it and scrambled to her feet. She felt monumentally stupid.  
  
"That was graceful," remarked Charlie matter-of-factly. Dora stared at him. That was not exactly what she had expected him to say. Then, she grinned. Expected or not the casual comment gave her a good first impression of him.  
  
"Wasn't it," she said sarcastically. "Walking has always been a strong point with me."  
  
Charlie grinned, "You're Nymphadora Tonks." It wasn't really a question. "You're the one who dumped potting soil on Professor Sprout on the first day of Herbology."  
  
"It's Dora," she said firmly. "And you are Charlie Weasley, the only first year able to land a broom properly, according to Madam Hooch."  
  
"Pleasure to meet you Dora." Charlie held out his hand.  
  
Dora shook it. "So what'd ya do to land yourself in detention," she asked, guessing that was why he was there.  
  
"Snuck down to see Hagrid after hours. He's taking care of some porlocks for Professor Kettleburn and I wanted to get a look at them."  
  
"Animal lover, huh?"  
  
"You could say that. What'd you do?"  
  
"Cursed a Slytherin," replied Dora. She seemed defiantly triumphant.  
  
"Why?" asked Charlie.  
  
"He's my second cousin."  
  
"You cursed him cause he's your cousin."  
  
"No, I cursed him cause he's a slimy little git. He was calling me a Mudblood and saying really nasty stuff about my parents."  
  
"But if he's your cousin... I mean he's related to you so wouldn't he be insulting his own family."  
  
"Not the way he looks at it," snarled Dora. Charlie looked at her inquisitively. "My mother's family is all purebloods. They disowned her when she married my father who's muggle-born," she explained shortly.  
  
He nodded; obviously she didn't want to talk about it, at least not to a near stranger.  
  
"So, you plan on playing Quidditch next year?" he asked.  
  
"I thought I'd try out..."  
  
"So that was how we met. We chatted for the rest of our detention. Never washed a single dish. The elves promised not to tell though."  
  
"So that was it," said Sirius. "You went to detention, fell down, talked to the guy, and were suddenly madly in love. Merlin, Tonks you were only eleven!" He seemed delighted rather than disturbed by the thought.  
  
"Don't be thick," said Tonks. "We were just friends then. When we got back to the common room—"  
  
"You started snogging."  
  
"No, my friend Millie and Charlie's friend Rusty were waiting up for us. They had been talking some and we all just sort of became friends."  
  
"But I thought you went out with the guy!" said Sirius indignantly.  
  
"Yeah but that wasn't for a while."  
  
"So, get on with it."  
  
"Well..."  
  
A/n: Well there it is. Hope you liked it. I'll update soon. Please review. I appreciate any review but constructive criticism would be best. (Oh and just so you know, at no time, under any circumstances will Millie and Rusty's relationship be anything but platonic)  
  
Thanks to everyone who reviews and to my snazzy beta Windowseat Wonderer!  
  
Until next time! 


	2. Hole in the Head

A/n: Ok, here's the next bit. Enjoy! Sorry about the formatting in the last chap, there was some stuff that was supposed to show up and didn't that would have made it much easier to read. Hope I did better this time! Oh and I REALLY need help doing italics, so if anyone can help please, PLEASE tell me. I don't absolutely have to have them right now but I know I will at some point. Also, I'm only doing parts of songs now. Today's is Hole in Head by the Sugababes. I'm not sure the song makes much sense but it sounds kinda cool so oh well. And just so you know, the first person who talks right after the song is Tonks present day (at party thing) and then it goes back to flashbacks.  
  
Disclaimer: Do I look like J.K. Rowling to you? Okay so you can't see me but I don't so I'm not, so I don't own Harry Potter, etc. (Did that make any sense to anyone but me?). I also don't own lyrics. They belong to the Sugababes or someone who wrote the words or someone like that, anyhow, not to me.  
  
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Hole in Head by Sugababes  
  
Ooh, won't you miss me like a hole in the head  
  
Because I do boy,  
  
And it's cool boy  
  
And ooh, bet you never thought I'd get out of bed  
  
Because of you boy,  
  
Such a fool boy  
  
Eleven hours on a brand new day  
  
I'm getting ready to go out and play  
  
It's late at night, I'm caught in a groove  
  
I'd kiss my ass before I'm feeling blue  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
"Well, I guess I should jump ahead to my sixth year. Charlie, Millie, Rusty, and I were best friends by then. I had this boyfriend, Feo Rodrigez; he was from Spain or Argentina I think. Anyway, Feo and I had been going out for a while and I was crazy about him. There was a dance on the last Friday of term, just before the holidays. Feo and I were going together and..."  
  
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Dora sat alone. She had been alone for exactly forty-seven minutes. Where the hell was Feo? He had said he was going to get drinks. She looked around for her friends. Millie was dancing with her off-and-on boyfriend, Justin. 'He's bad news,' Dora thought. Millie said Dora was just paranoid because Justin was a Slytherin and Dora's third cousin once removed. Dora knew that wasn't true, at least not completely. She realized she was overly suspicious when it came to Slytherins. 'Millie would be too if she was me,' she thought ruefully. But her hunch about Justin was based on pure fact. He had already dumped Millie twice for other people. Millie kept saying he had good reasons and that it wasn't his fault. 'Yeah right.' Dora smiled slightly; she knew that some night Millie would wake her up asking what she ever saw in that loser. 'She may be completely nuts but she always comes around in the end.'  
  
Rusty was sitting in a far corner scowling. His girlfriend, Betty, had just dumped him. 'Poor Rusty, he's crazy about her. He deserves better. Maybe I'll hook him up with Millie... No, that would never work. It'd be weird too. Like me going out with Charlie. I'll go talk to Rusty later.'  
  
She looked around for Charlie but couldn't find him anywhere. He was probably at Hagrid's looking at some new animal, or else fine tuning his Quidditch skills. Charlie was a sweetie but he was completely obsessive when it came to Quidditch. Everyone had been stunned when he decided he would rather chase dragons than play pro-Quidditch after Hogwarts. Especially the Quidditch League, they had thought he was a given.  
  
Tired of waiting, Dora decided to go look for her date. Feo was an intelligent, popular, absolutely gorgeous Ravenclaw seventh year, but he wasn't the most reliable guy Dora had ever dated. She checked the other tables and the dance floor, and then headed outside. 'He must be in the gardens,' she thought. 'Merlin knows why.'  
  
Walking through the vegetation, Dora listened to small snippets of random conversations.  
  
"Awww Freddy that's so sweet."  
  
"Ya know I didn't think this is working. You stink, but don't take it personally."  
  
"All I want is a good snog session."  
  
"Can we go inside, it's cold."  
  
"I thought you were rich."  
  
"Feo what are you doing here, and with her, I thought..." Dora stopped. That voice was familiar.  
  
So was the one that answered, "Charlie, hey buddy, see Lindsey and I...we were...see we just...listen man could we just keep this between the three of us. I mean Dora doesn't need to know."  
  
"No, she doesn't need to know."  
  
"Thanks, dude, you're a lifesaver, I—"  
  
"She doesn't need to know but she will."  
  
"What'd'ya mean?" Gods! For someone so bloody smart he sure could be slow.  
  
"What I mean," Charlie replied coolly, "is that I'm going to tell her."  
  
"But you just said--"  
  
"Feo, she's my best friend, do you honestly think I wouldn't tell her?"  
  
Dora didn't want to hear Feo beg Charlie to keep his mouth shut. She didn't want to leave either. So she went with a third option: she stepped up right behind Feo and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped about fifty feet.  
  
"Dora! Hey, I was just gonna come back and... ya see Lindsey and I...I mean Charlie...that is to say—"  
  
"That is to say that Charlie just found you and Lindsey...talking," Dora finished for him. Her sweet smile seemed to relieve Feo; apparently he thought he might just get away with this one. Charlie knew her much better. He saw the smile, but unlike Feo, he focused on her eyes, and the merciless sarcasm reflected in them. 'Oh yeah,' he thought, 'she's mad.' He decided to keep quiet for the time being. This should be interesting.  
  
"Yeah," Feo was saying, "Lindsey and I were talking because she was upset and then Charlie here came and said you were waiting and I was about to--"  
  
"I'm sure you were darling," the mockery in Dora's voice should have been obvious, especially to someone intelligent enough to be a Ravenclaw. Feo's popularity had gotten to his head, however, and his ego was incredibly inflated. His confidence in his "charm" made him oblivious to her misleading banter.  
  
Dora was still talking, "I mean, I know you would never do anything... untrustworthy."  
  
"Of...of course not..." stammered Feo.  
  
She ignored him, "You would never, oh I don't know..." her voice hardened suddenly, "desert me in the middle of a date to go make out with some random chick you managed to get you grimy hands on," she rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself Feo."  
  
"What, but you said...you just...sugar couldn't we..."  
  
Dora put on a phony, monotone voice, saying, "Hello, this is Dora Tonks from 'Break Ups for Dummies.' Consider yourself single." Without another word she turned and headed back to the castle.  
  
Charlie ran to catch up with her, "Why didn't you curse him?" he asked bluntly.  
  
She just grinned, "Wait and see."  
  
Charlie shrugged and walked quietly beside her as she proceeded toward the castle. Just outside the doors leading to the Great Hall, he stopped her. "You okay?" he asked quietly.  
  
Dora looked up at him, cocking her head to the side. She smiled slightly, "I'm fine." He looked skeptical. "Really, he's not worth be upset over," she said calmly, adding with more contempt, "filthy little bastard. I mean who does that? Couldn't he pick a better time? You'd think he'd have more sense than to go snog someone when I was waiting for him," she was good and mad by now, babbling furiously. "MERLIN WHAT AN ASS! YOU KNOW HE ALWAYS WAS SLIMY. SLIMY AND CONCIETED AND EVIL AND how did I fall for another one, Charlie? Why does it always happen like this?"  
  
"C'mon, don't act all injured, you dumped at least half of them, although it is good to see you back to normal again. You were so cool and collected there for a minute, I was getting worried."  
  
She grinned at him, "I'm all right now. Anyways, he's got it comin'"  
  
"I'll bet he does. What's the plan?"  
  
Dora shrugged. "C'mon, let's get back to the ball."  
  
They entered the Great Hall in the middle of a song. Millie was still dancing with Justin. 'I think Millie is just in love with being in love,' Dora thought. Millie was so shy; she seemed to need the confidence that came with having the guy she liked like her back. 'Oh well, at least she's happy.'  
  
Across the room, Rusty was still sitting moodily in his corner. Dora grabbed Charlie's hand, "C'mon," she said, "we should go try and talk to Rusty.'  
  
Charlie groaned and Dora gave him a sympathetic yet firm look. Rusty was very hard to deal with when he was sulking.  
  
"I say I grab us three ice cream sundaes, make the job a bit smoother," said Charlie.  
  
Dora considered this for a moment. "Naw make it one really big one," she decided, "and get four spoons, I'll grab Millie, you know how she is, she'll want to talk to him."  
  
When they were all gathered around the table eating their sundae and had made several poorly received attempts at consoling Rusty ("You're only sixteen, you'll find someone else." "No! I will never love again." "Stop being so bloody melodramatic."), Dora raised her ice cream and hot fudge covered spoon.  
  
"I propose a toast," she announced, "to old friends, the best of friends!"  
  
"Hear, hear!" laughed Charlie.  
  
Millie grinned and Rusty's scowl turned into a hesitant smile. They all raised their spoons in salute to the toast. The four friends sat for a while in silence, until the final song of the night was announced. Millie jumped up to find Justin. Dora also stood up and went to Rusty. "C'mon, one dance for your old friend," she said, extending her hands toward her unhappy classmate. He grinned and followed her out to the dance floor where he was distracted from his misery as Dora repeatedly treaded on his feet. Half-way through the song, Rusty's tendency to over-dramatize situations took over his common sense and he shook his head and started back to his corner where Charlie was finishing the sundae. Dora sighed and followed him. "Okay Charlie," she said with a grin, "your turn."  
  
Charlie shook his head and Dora's smile widened, she knew he hated dancing. "C'mon, humor me. I have to finish out the last dance."  
  
Charlie let out a groan of protest and let her lead him out to the middle of the hall.  
  
"Merlin Charlie," Dora said after a few seconds, "you're not half as bad as you keep saying. Or was that just an excuse? Well now I've figured you out and you owe me a dance at every ball we've got left."  
  
Charlie smiled, then winced as she stepped on his foot. "So what's your brilliant plan for getting even with Feo and how much trouble are you gonna get in this time."  
  
"What brilliant plan?" asked Dora innocently. "Charlie, love, I have no idea what you are babbling about." Charlie raised an eyebrow. Dora wrinkled her nose, "Fine, there is a brilliant plan but you are going to have you wait, just like everyone else. Oh, and I won't be getting in any trouble." He looked at her skeptically. "I swear, this one's foolproof. Completely untraceable."  
  
Charlie let it go. "Think Rusty'll ever get over Betty?" he asked.  
  
"Of course he will. And Mill will get over Justin. They're smart, down-to- earth, and they have us to whack them upside the heads if they go too crazy. Don't worry about it, they'll be fine."  
  
The dance ended before Charlie could answer. They collected Rusty and left, Millie was nowhere to be seen at the moment. She showed up in the common room about ten minutes after the others, with a whimsical expression on her round face. Her friends didn't ask. Instead they all said good night and went up to their dormitories. Putting on her pajamas and listening to Millie whistle, Dora considered her night. 'It wasn't all bad,' she thought optimistically. 'So finding out what an arse Feo is wasn't fun, but at least I'm not with him anymore. Besides, the rest was pretty good.'  
  
She climbed into bed. In the morning, they would all be going home for the holidays. She couldn't say she was looking forward to it. Dora wondered if her mother had found another job. Andromeda always had a different occupation. Ted said it was because of her 'unstable' childhood. Dora said it was because she was nuts. Dora shook her head. She'd worry about tomorrow tomorrow, now she just wanted to go to sleep.  
  
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A/n: Thanks so much to Nooldlejelly, :), sweet775, Julia, and moonymagnificent for reviewing you guys make my day. Seriously I've been so thrilled when I get them my whole family thinks I'm completely nuts...then again, that's not overly unusual. Thanks once again to my uber-cool beta Windowseat Wonderer. I think the rest of the story until about the last couple chapters will all be in memories. Tell me what you think! Love y'all! 


	3. Powerless

A/n Okay here's the next installment. Sorry its so late, I've been all over the place the last couple of weeks, hopefully I'll update again in about a week. About this chapter, it's kind of boring, it's a transition and necessary for character development, issue intro, and all that good stuff, but it's not exactly action packed, please bear (bare? which use is this) with me. Oh yeah, the song, this one doesn't work perfectly but if you use your imagination you can make it fit.  
  
iThis is just a test. I think I've figured out how to do italics (yay!). Hopefully after this chapter you won't have to put up with annoying '' marks anymore. Hoorah! END OF TESTi  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from HP and never will unless I win it on ebay for less than $20 bucks which seems unlikely cause I never go on ebay. The song belongs to Nelly Furtado.  
  
;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l ;l;l;l;l  
  
Powerless  
  
Cuz this life is too short to live it just for you  
  
But when you feel so powerless what are you gonna do  
  
So say what you want  
  
;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l;l ;l;l;l;l;  
  
"So, what are you guys doing for Christmas?" Rusty asked, as they rode the train the next morning. He had been surly all morning, still brooding over Betty, and it was the first time he had spoken in over an hour.  
  
"My parents are taking us to Spain. They say it'll be a good cultural experience for us spoiled children," replied Millie. The others grinned. Millie came from a very rich family. She and her younger sisters, Allison and Margaret, were rather pampered.  
  
"We're off to Egypt to visit Bill," said Charlie glumly. "I'll be seeing loads of sand this Christmas."  
  
"But there are all the pyramids and things," Millie pointed out. "Those should be interesting."  
  
"I suppose. There are still other places I'd rather be."  
  
"You've got it better than me," said Dora. "I reckon I'd love Egypt compared to where I'm going.'  
  
Her friends laughed. "Dora you're going home," said Millie.  
  
"Yup, it's back to the nuthouse for me."  
  
Rusty rolled his eyes, "It can't be that bad."  
  
"Oh yes it can. Andromeda's forever crying over the holidays. Must remind her of her Christmases when she was kid. I know they were pretty bad, but Merlin it's been sixteen years. Isn't it about time she moved on? So that's what I tell her and then Ted gets all mad and tells me that that's not my place and I have no idea what she went through. It gets so old. I mean just because she was screwed up doesn't mean she can mess up my life. It's like she's jealous that I've had a chance at a normal life. And she takes out everything on me. Tells me how she never caused any trouble or smashed into things. She just needs to get over herself..." Realizing how awkwardly her friends were looking at her Dora quieted herself. After long silence she put on a smile and attempted to restart the conversation.  
  
"Anyway, what are you doing Rusty?" she asked.  
  
"Probably just hanging out, trying to stay out of the way of all my crazy cousins who ask me obnoxious questions about magic and try to get me to curse their parents."  
  
The others laughed, grateful for the tension relief. They spent the rest of the trip playing Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess. The train pulled up at Kings Cross station in mid-afternoon. Parents stood in groups around the platform, waiting for their children. Dora leaned past Rusty to check for her parents. "Yup, Andie and Ted, three o'clock."  
  
"I still don't get how you can call your parents by their first names," said Millie incredulously as she gathered her things.  
  
Dora shrugged, "I don't do it to their faces."  
  
The others pushed her aside to look for their families. The Weasleys stood a little ways away from the Tonks's. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were peering into the crowd looking for their four sons that went to Hogwarts. Charlie in his sixth year was the oldest of the four of them, Percy was in his third year and, and the twins, Fred and George were in their first year. The youngest Weasley children, Ron and Ginny, who were not yet at school, were running up to the train. The oldest, Bill, had already graduated and was working at Gringott's in Egypt.  
  
Edward and Lucy Grant, Rusty's parents, were standing nervously by the entrance to the platform with their five-year-old daughter, Michelle. They looked as though they didn't quite know what to do, surrounded by so many witches and wizards. Their other son, Mike had gone to an ordinary Muggle school and was now at a Muggle university. Needless to say they had been very surprised when Rusty got his first Hogwarts letter.  
  
Millie's family was talking to a couple who Dora didn't recognize. Unlike the Daniels's, they were perfectly at ease. They had both gone to Hogwarts although they were both Muggle-born. Margaret and Allison were standing on tiptoe to get a look of their sister.  
  
The four friends clambered off the train. Ginny instantly threw her arms around Charlie who hugged her back. Millie ran to hug her parents and sisters as Rusty grabbed his parents and lead them toward his friends and their families. Dora sighed and made her way toward her own parents. They each embraced her, her mother more stiffly than Dora thought completely necessary. They didn't have a particularly warm relationship. In fact, Dora preferred to say they had no relationship at all. 'I don't know what I did,' she thought as she broke away from Andie's hold. She wasn't even sure when her mother had stopped being a mother and started being so resentful and depressed, but she could guess. 'When Sirius was arrested. I guess she figures no one of her blood can be any good; except her perfect self. And Ted's crazy about her. Won't hear a word against her. Merlin! Why does she have to be like this? I suppose she's sort of jealous that I didn't have to live with her parents and sisters and all that darkness.' Shaking her head, Dora stopped trying to figure out the way her mother's head working (the exercise was giving her a headache) and turned her attention to her friends  
  
"Bye guys, see you after break. Send good presents!" she said attempting to hug them all at one time. They squeezed her back and after exchanging final good-byes ands wishing each other happy holidays they left the stations with their families, carrying trunks and chatting happily.  
  
"Shall we be off then," asked Ted, hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah," murmured Dora vaguely. She was watching her friends leave. More and more each year they were her family and Hogwarts, her home. She knew Ted loved her but she hardly saw him anymore. It was like he wasn't even her father. Andie love her too, sort of. 'It's a love/hate thing with me and Andie,' she decided as she followed her parents through the barrier and into the main train station. The family's one, rarely used car sat in the station parking lot. Ted had bought it for them to use when Dora was home and the Flu Network wasn't convenient.  
  
"So, Nympie how's school?" Ted asked.  
  
'He barely knows me. I've been Dora for years, ever since I went to school. But at least he's trying; Andie hasn't said a word since I got here, unless you can count 'Hi'.' "It's been pretty good. A lot of work."  
  
She climbed into the back of the car. 'Oh well, it's only a couple of weeks. Maybe we'll all get along this time.' She listened to the silence that stretched between her self and her parents and smiled ironically. 'Fat chance.'  
  
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A/n: Hope this is all cool and I didn't make any huge mistakes, I'm running out the door here. Review, you have no idea how much I value your opinions Love to all! 


	4. Numb

A/n: Here's chapter four, right on schedule. Sorry about the italics thing last time. Obviously it didn't work. Now I've figured it out thanks so much to Julia and eloquentsilence for their help. Thanks also to my reviewers, you know who you are and pretty soon I'll get around to saying something to each of you personally.

Another A/n: This chapter is a bit darker than the others. It's a bit angsty really although I tried to lighten it up with a little humor. The next couple chapters will probably be similarly angsty but don't worry, it's just a phase and once I get past it'll get much lighter so hand in there. And about Feo Rodrigez, I got so many comments on him and how you guys want to see what she does and she will do something, but you're gonna have to wait until chapter eight I think. Sorry. And now without further ado except for a disclaimer, I present chapter four.

Disclaimer: Don't own. (I'll be more creative next time).

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I've become so numb I can't feel you there  
I've become so tired so much more aware  
I'm becoming this all I want to do  
Is be more like me and be less like you  
  
And I know  
I may end up failing too  
But I know  
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you  
  
_[Chorus]_  
I've become so numb I can't feel you there  
I've become so tired so much more aware  
I'm becoming this all I want to do  
Is be more like me and be less like you

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Dora had decided she preferred Andie's silence to anything her mother had to say. As soon had they got inside and Ted had left to take Dora's trunk her room, Andie started up a whirl of small talk. _Still a Black. Trained to perfection in the art of polite, impersonal conversation _Dora rolled her eyes. Her mother caught the gesture. Andie glared at her daughter.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me young lady. I am your mother…"

"No shit Sherlock…"

The sarcasm was a mistake. Andie's face hardened, her graciousness turning into the furious anger Dora remembered so well from her childhood.

"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE, YOU INSOLENT LITTLE…I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO DESERVE THIS…"

"NO YOU NEVER DID ANYTHING AT ALL, ALWAYS LET DAD HANDLE IT. ALL YOU EVER DID WAS SCREAM. THAT'S ALL I REMEMBER FROM WHEN I WAS A KID, MY MOTHER SCREECHING LIKE A BANSHEE AT ME, EVEN WHEN I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING…"

"I DID MY VERY BEST! MAYBE I WASN'T CUT OUT FOR THE WHOLE MOM THING, WASN'T LIKE I HAD I GREAT MOTHER. YOU THINK I SCREAM…"

"THAT'S ALL YOU EVER THINK ABOUT, YOURSELF. YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN TO COAGHT UP IN YOUR OWN BLOODY ISSUES.

YOU NEVER GAVE A DAMN ABOUT ME…"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKIING ABOUT…"

"IT DOEN'T MATTER WHAT YOU WENT THROUGH, I'M YOUR DAUGHTER! MOST PEOPLE WOULD TRY TO SPARE THEIR CHILDREN. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAD IT BAD DOESN'T MEAN I DIDN'T DESERVE A NORMAL CHILDHOOD…"

"I TRIED… I'LL TRY TO FIX…"

Dora stared at her mother as Andie trailed off. "It's too late," Dora whispered. Her anger and hurt made the words ring with contempt; "You already made your mistakes. Why didn't you just try? Why couldn't you just move on? If not for me, for Dad; he loves you so much and you treat him like dirt, just like everyone else…"

Dora turned on her heel and ran out of the room. She pushed past her father, and ran out the door, slamming it behind her. The pavement tripped her up and sent her sprawling. Cursing her natural clumsiness, Dora scrambled to her feet and continued running, not noticing the people staring or the tears rolling down her face.

She could never remember exactly how it happened (she dimly recalled a subway and an old man who had lent her money or something) but she ended up in London. Her hysteria had vanished and she felt lost and alone. After an hour's aimless wandering she stumbled on the Leaky Cauldron. She had no idea of what to do.

"Are you alright?"

Dora whirled around and found herself looking into a slightly familiar face.

"Mr. Weasley!"

He smiled, nodding, then frowned. "I'm sorry, I forget who you are."

"Dora Tonks," she answered, extending her hand. He shook it. "I'm a friend of Charlie's from Hogwarts."

"Oh, right, the metamorphagus, that explains it why I didn't recognize you."

"Yeah, my hair was pink at the station." She had changed it to auburn once she got home. Pink seemed too cheerful for that place. "I thought you were going to Egypt."

"Tomorrow morning. I've been delegated for the last minute shopping," Mr. Weasley explained, indicating the packages he had been carrying. "Are you here with your parents?"

"Uh…yeah. Yeah they're buying some…er…quills."

Surprisingly, he seemed to accept her story, "Well, I'd love to talk, Dora, but I need to get back. Molly's very stressed with the trip and all."

"Right." said Dora. Mr. Weasley turned toward the fireplace. "Hey, Mr. Weasley." She needed some where to go and he was the only person around who she knew. Would he take her in for the holidays? _No, _she decided. _No he'd just send me home. Besides, they're leaving._ "Say hi to Charlie for me."

"Sure. Good-bye."

"'Bye."

Dora left before she could change her mind. She decided to stay at the Leaky Cauldron. She had an account at Gringott's with enough Galleons to pay for a room for the next two weeks. She sent her parents an owl the next day telling them she was at a Millie's house and not to worry. As if they would. Millie sent Dora's things, which had arrived at Millie's house right before she left for Spain.

Dora spent the next three days wandering around Diagon Alley, doing some shopping and writing letters to her friends. On her fourth day, Christmas Eve, she was sitting in her hotel room, preparing her Christmas letters and gifts. She had bought a small model of a Chinese Fireball for Charlie; it was they only species he didn't have in his walking, fire breathing dragon figurine set. For Millie, she bought an amateur Healer's set. Dora figured her friend could start training for her future career as a Healer. Rusty was the hardest of her friends to shop for. He had very few interests. She had settled on a radio that received both Muggle and Wizarding stations, as he was always complaining that he couldn't keep up with the trends of the magical world during the summer. She bought Ted a new hat. His others were very old. She sent Andromeda a book that she had pulled at random off the shelf at Flourish and Blotts.

Having sent the gifts and their accompanying letters with her owl, Dora went down to the pub. She suddenly felt very alone. Sitting at the bar with her butterbeer a few minutes later, she noticed how few people were there. _Everyone's at home with their families, I suppose. _She sipped her butterbeer, feeling extremely lonely. She had thought that spending her holidays here, alone, was better than spending them at home with her parents. Now she wasn't so sure. What she would have given to be Millie, or Charlie, or Rusty! Maybe their families annoyed them but at least they cared about them. A wave of depression filled Dora and to her horror she felt tars on the cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Dora started. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the man come up to the bar, order a drink, and address her.

"Y-Yes," she stammered, hastily wiping her cheeks with the palm of her hand.

Looking up, she studied the man's face. He was quite young, probably in his mid-twenties, but he looked worn, like he'd seen a lot of hard times. He had light brown hair and a kind smile on his face. His brown eyes were looking at her with a strange mixture of sympathy, concern, and something else, confusion, perhaps, or regret.

"Waiting for your family?" he asked. Dora had no idea why he cared. She wished he would leave.

"No," she answered shortly. Maybe he would get the message that she wasn't in the mood for small talk. No such luck.

"Aren't you a bit young to be here alone at night?"

"Obviously not. I'm here, aren't I?"

He smiled a bit wider. Suddenly, he seemed very familiar. That scared her. Most vaguely familiar people turned out to be relatives. Not a good thing.

"I have to…" Dora began just as the man started to speak. His words made her stop.

"You remind me of an old friend I had in school." He looked at her frowning. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were his daughter, but no."

This caught Dora's attention. "Who was he?"

"No one you'd want to meet," answered the man.

"So you compare me to him then say I wouldn't want to meet him. Is that an insult?" asked Dora, cocking her head to the side, eyebrows raised.

"Merlin you look like him too," he smiled, reminiscing. "He used to give me the same look."

"I can look like anyone," Dora said crossly. "And you never answered my question."

"Like anyone? How do you manage that?"

"Answer my question and I'll tell you."

"It wasn't an insult. He was a good man when he was your age, just didn't grow up so well. You better hope you don't end up like he did."

"How's that?"

"Wait, my question first."

"Fine, I'm a metamorphagus; I can look however I want. Now, what happened to him?" she wasn't entirely sure why it meant so much to her.

"He's in jail. What do you naturally look like?"

"Like this mostly. I don't usually change my face very much, just my hair," Dora indicated her blonde curls. "Why is he in jail?"

"Never you mind. So if you weren't a metamorphagus—"

Dora cut him off, opening her mouth to ask another question about the man's friend, but the man held up his hand. "Let me finish then maybe I'll tell you more about my friend. What color is your hair normally?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you have the same nose."

"What?"

The man smiled again, sadly this time, as though remembering a part of his life he wished he were still in. "Your nose is the same as my friend's, and your eyes. You act a bit like he did, as well. Do you have you're mother's eyes or your father's?"

Dora wasn't sure what he was getting at, but she played along. "Neither. My mother's eyes are brown, my father's are hazel."

"Any blue eyed family members?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

Dora closed her eyes for a moment, remembering: _Blue eyes dancing. That big welcoming smile. Strong arms scooping her up. "Hiya Nymphie, how's my favorite little cousin." All that black hair, groomed to perfection. He was always so vain about that hair of his. _

"He's gone now," she said. She wasn't really answering the man's question. "Haven't seen him in like eight years. I loved him then. He was like a brother to me. Or an uncle. An immature one," she laughed absently. "He wasn't what I thought he was. He really screwed up," she laughed again." Screwed up, that's the understatement of a lifetime. Sometimes I think that it couldn't have been him but…but there's no other explanation." Dora felt tears rise to her eyes for the second time that day.

"Same with my friend really," the man was sinking into his own reverie. "Killed his best friends. Left his friends and family, well what was left of his family. He wasn't on speaking terms with most his relatives. Just his cousin and her husband, and their daughter. I guess none of us had much of a real family."

"I never did either. My father's the only one left in his family, 'cept some third cousins and stuff. Andie's parents disowned her. But I had one hell of a surrogate family."

"Yeah? I did too, I guess. My mother was killed when I was in my seventh year at Hogwarts and my dad left us when I was a baby. I had my friends though. After school we'd get together to celebrate Christmas. We'd sing, burn all the food…"

"…have Chocolate Frog fights. Uncle Prongs would bring some Fire Whiskey and he and Uncle Padfoot would get royally smashed..."

"Who?" the man's face was chalk white, his eyes wide in shock...

"My uncles…sort of…see they…"

"What were their real names?" he spoke slowly, trying to contain himself.

Dora bit her lip. "One was my mother's cousin. Prongs was his best friend…"

"Nymphadora Tonks."

Dora blinked, _How did he…? _Then suddenly, she realized. _Christmastime. Her father walked into the room. "Introducing Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs." Ted loved being part of the Marauder's games. Five year old Dora. Running to them. Picked up and hugged by each in turn. Uncle Padfoot, Uncle Prongs…_

"Uncle Moony!" 

He smiled.

Dora's head was swimming. _Remus Lupin. One of Uncle Padfoot's best friends. _She couldn't decide whether she was happy or sad or excited or surprised or…__

Then, before she could decide what to do or say or think, the screaming began. 

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A/n: There it is. I could really use comments on this chapter, I'm very worried about it. Reveiw!


	5. Hands

This is a repost. I forgot to put this in web page format so the italics didn't show up and it probably didn't make any sense. Whoops. Anyhow here it is, all fixed.

A/n: I meant to respond individually to you guys in this chapter but I really wanted to get this up tonight so that will have to wait. I do have two quick explanations:

1. Andromeda- in this fict, she is the way she is because you look at Sirius, you look at his mother and at Bellatrix and Narcissa and frankly it doesn't seem like anyone from that family can be completely normal. I mean, I adore Sirius, but in book 5 you can definitely see…I dunno how his family had an affect on him. So anyhoodles, I thought about it and this was how I decide Andromeda might have turned out. (You'll see more about that later.)

2. I don't have time for #2 so I'll tell you next time ;)

Anyhoodles here's chapter 5 right off schedule. Sorry and sorry about the explanation above, I'm not sure how helpful it is but I'm in a hurry.

Disclaimer: Don't own (told you I was in a hurry)

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Hands

If I could tell the world just one thing  
It would be that we're all OK  
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful  
And useless in times like these  
I won't be made useless  
I won't be idle with despair  
I will gather myself around my faith  
For light does the darkness most fear  
My hands are small, I know  
But they're not yours, they are my own  
But they're not yours, they are my own  
And I am never broken

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Dora and Lupin both started, looking around the bar for the source of the noise. The few others in the room were doing the same. At first, in their surprise and fright, no one realized that the noise was not coming from the bar, but from Diagon Alley. Lupin was first to register the fact. He jumped up. "Stay here!" he shouted at Dora, before dashing out the back door to the entrance to the alley.

Dora rolled her eyes. How many people on Earth 'stayed' when they were told? Pulling her wand from her pocket, Dora ran after him. She slipped through the arch a second before it closed.

The alley was in chaos. She couldn't see anything clearly. Screams and shouts echoed through the street from all directions. People were running every which way. Something was burning. Dora could smell the stench of the smoke and see the flames but she couldn't tell what was on fire. Bursts of light flew through the air at random targets.

Dora stood, frozen for a moment, unsure of what to do. Briefly, she considered running back to the protection of the Leaky Cauldron. Before she could, a hand grabbed her arm. "Get over to Ollivander's. They're trying to take it," shouted the man who held her.

"Who is?" Dora hollered back.

"Big gang. Death Eaters probably. Attacking all over. Want wands."

"How…"

"Just go!"

Dora went, trying to process the information the man had given her as she ran. A horde of people who were most likely Death Eaters were attacking Diagon Alley (was it just this street or others as well?). Dora assumed that they had been drinking in celebration of the holidays and that they decided it would be nice to take over Diagon Alley for some purpose that seemed quite logical after half a gallon of Firewhiskey. The man had told her they wanted wands. What did they want wands for? _They're completely legless of course. _But stealing wands seemed so calculated.

Dora reached Ollivander's still unsure about what was taking place around her. A group of Death Eaters was pummeling the shop with spells. The small knot of people protecting the building was clearly losing. Quite a few people lay unconscious on the store steps behind the defenders. As Dora watched, a Death Eater sent a jet of light at the man who was fighting nearest Dora. The man collapsed and Dora hurried to take his place.

"_Stupefy!" _shouted the Death Eater. Dora dodged the stunner, vaguely registering that the voice was female.

"_Expelliarmus!" _Dora's aim was deadly, but the Death Eater put up a shield just in time. Dora swore and the Death Eater laughed.

"Thought you had me didn't you," she taunted. "It's going to take more than a little girl to thwart me!" The woman's voice was high, cruel, and horribly familiar.

Tall, slender, blonde. "Awwww is baby Nymphie sceered," she had jeered at Dora, long ago.

Narcissa Malfoy. Aunt Cissa.

Cold rage filled Dora. _That evil, fowl, deceitful, sick, heartless, wicked bitch! _The few, terrible encounters Dora had had with her aunt threatened to overwhelm Dora's mind. She pushed her memories away.

"_Locomotor Mortis!" _she yelled. Narcissa'slegs snapped together and the woman fell to her knees.

Dora watched her aunt raise her wand, face contorted with fury. She prepared defend herself but Narcissa was too fast. _"Crucio!" _

Dora's world exploded. She wasn't even aware that she fell. All she was conscious of was the pain. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't remember a time when she wasn't in agony. It lasted less than a minute, yet it lasted for eternity. It was pure, raw, excruciating pain.

Then it was over. Dora found herself lying crumpled on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" came the brutally amused voice of her aunt. The voice brought Dora back to her senses. She became aware of two things: one was the warm blood that covered her right arm. The other thing was that the sweat-soaked hair that fell over her face was not blonde, as it had been earlier, but jet-black. A metamorphagus has to have a small, generally unconscious part of his or brain concentrating on maintaining an unnatural form. This usually doesn't take any thought after a form is assumed. If a person's brain isn't functioning (like if they pass out) or is completely devoted to one thought (the pain being inflicted by a crazy, evil aunt) the form is lost. This (as Dora figured out later as she was in no state to think clearly at that moment) was the case in her duel with Narcissa.

Her aunt kicked her onto her back, looked at the sixteen-year-olds face, and laughed. The Death Eater recognized the glossy, black hair (many other Blacks had it), the wide, blue eyes, and, most especially, the scar that lined her niece's face from cheekbone to jaw. Narcissa laughed. "Nymphadora. My darling sister's baby daughter. Have you enjoyed this little fight? I do hope you have. It's been so long since I last saw you. Do you remember?"

"Of course," said Dora, trying to look defiant although she doubted she looked anything but scared and drained. "I rarely forget it when my own family tries to murder me. How is Azkaban suiting Aunt Bella's fine tastes these days?"

Narcissa raised her wand, "How dare you!" she screeched. "You filthy little Mudblood!" She opened her mouth to curse the girl at her feet, livid at the mockery of her sister. _Merlin,_ thought Dora_, she's going to kill me!_ Somehow, they had moved away from the main battles and the rest of the street fighters were too busy with their own battles to notice Dora. Dora fumbled for her wand, which had rolled a few feet away, when she was hit by the Cruciatus Curse.

CRACK.

Dora and Narcissa looked up, concentration torn from their battle, as fifty some people Apparated into the middle of the riot. They were Aurors. Narcissa let out a shriek of rage. "Serpensorita!" she yelled and then vanished with a crack. Dora let out a sigh of relief. Then she heard a low hiss. Closing her eyes, Dora turned very slowly. She opened her eyes just in time to see the fangs sink into her left thigh.

As she lost consciousness, Dora felt dull pain where her skin had been punctured. Her head spun. Distantly, she heard someone say, _"Evanesco!" _She could feel hands on her. More voices, "The fangs were poison…" "Will she make it?…" "Loosing…sleep…help…care…medicine…Mungo's…" Then, everything melted away into darkness.

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A/n: Hope you like it. Please review! Love you all loads!


	6. Bathwater

A/n: Here's chapter 6! I might start updating a little less frequently cause things are getting hectic but I definitely plan on finishing this so don't give up on me. I'm so about all the semicolons in this chap. My computer really likes them. Also, I think I said I would respond to all review in this chap but I lied. Am v. sorry! I'll get around to it I swear! Oh and the #2 note that I never finished next chapter: Someone mentioned the title of this story so I thought I'd tell you guys the story behind it. Basically I heard this song on the radio and I was hyper and there was this line: "the best soy latte that you've ever had…and me." So I thought it was cool and I was talking to a friend and somehow the song comes up and tadda! It came to me!...Not a very interesting story now that I think about it.

Anyhow here's the story. The song is Bathwater by No Doubt and it has absolutely nothing to do with this chapter, I just happened to like it and no other songs worked either.

Disclaimer: I don't own any situations, characters, and places that are in the Harry Potter books. I don't own the song lyrics. It all belongs to JKR and No Doubt.

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Bathwater

[this song has nothing to do with this fict see authors note]

You and your museum of lovers  
The precious collection you've housed in your covers  
My simpleness threatened by my own admission And the bags are much too heavy  
In my insecure condition  
My pregnant mind is fat full with envy again But I still love to wash in your old bathwater  
Love to think that you couldn't love another  
I can't help it...you're my kind of man Wanted and adored by attractive women  
Bountiful selection at your discretion  
I know I'm diving into my own destruction So why do we choose the boys that are naughty?  
I don't fit in so why do you want me?  
And I know I can't tame you...but I just keep trying 'Cause I love to wash in your old bathwater  
Love to think that you couldn't love another  
I'm on your list with all your other women  
But I still love to wash in your old bathwater  
You make me feel like I couldn't love another  
I can't help it...you're my kind of man

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Dora came to slowly and painfully. The first thing she was aware of was the pain in her side and in her right arm. Her head hurt, too. She shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"She's coming around," observed a man. He sounded nearby. Slowly, Dora opened her eyes. She was lying on a cot in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron. The pub had been turned into a makeshift hospital. Rows of beds were set up. On each bed lay a witch or wizard, some still unconscious others awake and being tended to by one of the many healers in St. Mungo's robes, or else talking to family members or ministry officials.

Dora studied the two men beside her bed. She didn't recognize either of them. One sat in a chair. He was a large man, bald, dark-skinned, with an earring in one ear. Dora liked the look of him; he seemed friendly. The other man stood, looming over her in a slightly intimidating way. He was a very neat looking man, with straight, graying brown hair and moustache and perfectly tailored robes. He wasn't half as friendly looking as the other man and Dora doubted she would like him very much. He was just too damn orderly.

The man with earring smiled. "Do you feel well enough to talk?" he asked.

"I think so," Dora croaked. Her mouth and throat were dry. Her head ached terribly when she spoke. "Can I have some water?"

The man handed her a cup. Dora took a long drink, spilling more than she drank, handed the cup back, and waited for the men to continue. She wondered what they wanted.

"My name is Bartemius Crouch," said the neat man. "I am the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and this is Kingsley Shacklebolt, he's an Auror. We're trying to figure out what happened on Christmas Eve."

"What day is it?" asked Dora.

Mr. Crouch ignored her. "Would you please state your name, age, and then give your account of the events of December the twenty-fourth in your own words," he said. He had obviously done this before, that or he had rehearsed the speech. Either way, Dora was too distracted to answer him.

"What happened? How long was I asleep?" she asked groggily. She was exhausted.

"Please answer my questions," said Crouch impatiently.

"Barty, give her a minute; she's sick," said Kingsley Shacklebolt calmly. He turned to Dora, "You were bitten by a snake that was conjured by a Serpensort Curse. The venom was poisonous but not deadly. You'll feel sick for a few days, but you'll live. And it's Christmas Day, evening really. Now if you don't want to talk, at least give us your name and age so we can talk to you later--"

"Kingsley, I really think we should--" Crouch began stiffly.

"Let her rest," Kingsley cut in, "I agree. Your name miss?"

"Dora Tonks."

Crouch, who seemed to have a need for control over the situation, asked, "What is 'Dora' short for?"

Dora grimaced, "Nymphadora."

Crouch scribbled on a notebook. "And your age?"

"Sixteen."

The men stared at her, shocked. "Sixteen!" exclaimed Kingsley. "What the hell were you doing out there? Where are your parents?"

"Some guy…he told me to…they're…" Dora could no longer see straight. Her stomach heaved and she threw up over the side of the bed. She lay back down, still nauseated and longing for sleep.

After vanishing the mess, Kingsley handed Dora a potion. "This will help you sleep," he said.

Dora drank it down and fell instantly asleep.

When Dora woke, she found herself in the room she had been living in during her stay at the Leaky Cauldron. The pain in her side, arm, and head had lessened slightly and she didn't feel as dizzy as she had before. She glanced around the room. Neither Crouch, nor Kingsley was there. In fact, no one was. Dora frowned. She wasn't entirely sure what to do now. Was she still under medical care or could she do what ever she wanted? The answer came quickly in the form of a healer. Healer Francesca Malone, read her nametag. Francesca was short and slim with dark hair and eyes. She smiled when she saw Dora was awake and handed her a slightly murky looking potion. "I'm Francesca," she said, a bit unnecessarily. "The potion will help your head. I'm afraid you're going to have quite an unpleasant interview with the ministry men. They've barging into patient's rooms all day pestering them all day and night," she scowled darkly then rolled her eyes. "Anyway drink up," Dora obeyed, "and I'll help you sit up and get ready." The healer grinned, "you look like a beggar girl."

Dora laughed and let Francesca prop her up with pillows comb her curly black hair. She scowled at her hair. She hated its natural appearance. She had the same thick, dark curls as her mother and many other Blacks. She never wore her hair this dark if she could help it; it reminded her of her lineage. All the same, she barely had enough energy to sit much less change her appearance.

Francesca finished her task (straightening the covers and Dora's hospital gown) and went to open the door. Two men entered and the healer left. The men were the same two who had questioned her earlier. Crouch conjured two chairs at Dora's bedside and they sat.

"Well, Nymphadora," Crouch began.

"It's Dora," she corrected.

"Well, Dora," the man amended looking rather irritated, "before we begin our little talk, Mr. Shacklebolt and I would like to know where your parents are." He was being _very_ patronizing, something which annoyed Dora to no end and confirmed her dislike of the man.

"They're around," replied Dora.

"Around here?"

Dora's mind was racing. If these men knew she had run out on her family, they would have her back with her parents in minutes. "Around the world," she said, working on a story she could give them.

"What do you mean?" asked Crouch testily.

"They went to…er…New Zealand for the holidays."

"I see," said Crouch, scribbling on his notepad.

"Are you staying with someone here then?" asked Kingsley.

"My uncle." Dora hadn't forgotten about Uncle Moony, she hadn't asked after him because she hadn't much of an opportunity to ask anyone anything. Besides bringing up her surrogate uncle could have caused awkward questions. Now, since awkward questions were unavoidable, Dora felt she might as well use the topic to her advantage.

"And what is his name?" asked Crouch.

"Remus Lupin. Do you know where he is? I haven't seen him since Christmas Eve. He went out to fight."

"I believe I saw him out in Diagon Alley," supplied Kingsley. "He was helping with clean-up. I'll send for him." He then scribbled a message on a piece of parchment and, with a few muttered words and waves of his wand, he made the parchment fold itself into a paper airplane, which soared out of the room.

"Now, Miss Tonks, will you please explain what happened to you during the attack on the twenty-fourth?" said Crouch.

Dora did, mostly. She made it sound as though she had already been outside when the battle started since she didn't want to deal with the lecture she would've received if Crouch and Kingsley knew she had rushed out into the fighting. She also didn't tell them who the Death Eater was. She would tell them about that when they asked and of course they would ask.

She had just reached the part of her story when she had attempted to stun Narcissa, when the door opened and three more people entered the room. Remus was one of them. He went to the bed at once, a frown on his worn face. He was followed by Arthur Weasley and by Charlie. Dora had never been happier to see them. She threw her arms around Remus who was first to reach her and then hugged Charlie who had crossed to the side of the bed opposite the adults.

"What are all you doing here?" demanded Crouch. "This is a Ministry questioning, not a press conference."

"This is my uncle, Moon—Remus," said Dora quickly. "He's the one who's been watching out for me while my parents are in New Zealand." She glanced at Lupin. He was frowning, then realization hit him and his face cleared. She crossed her fingers under the blankets that he would cover for her, and continued, "Charlie here is a friend of mine from school, he and his father—"

"Were working outside trying to clean up the alley," Mr. Weasley provided. "We were near Mr. Lupin when he received your message."

Crouch frowned, "You may see her in a little while," he said, "until then please wait in the hall."

_Crazy, lunatic, control freak, _thought Dora. Looking up at Crouch she bit her lip, batted her eyes, and tried to look pathetic. It wasn't hard, seeing as she was still in quite a bit of pain despite the potion Francesca had given her.

"Please, sir," she whispered pitifully, "don't send them away!" Charlie recognizing her tactic as one she had used on countless teachers at Hogwarts hid his grin with his hand. "Can't they stay?" begged Dora

Crouch was clearly not moved. "No, they cannot," he replied curtly. "This is—"

"Not a top secret interview," finish Kingsley. "Let them stay Barty, she'll probably just tell them anyway." Without waiting for Crouch's approval, Kingsley conjured three more chairs and Dora's interview continued smoothly until Crouch asked the unavoidable question:

"Do you have any idea as to the identity of this Death Eater."

Dora looked him straight in the eye, "It was Narcissa Malfoy." Crouch stared at her with disapproving disbelief. Dora had expected this reaction. As much as Crouch despised the dark arts, she knew he had vouched for the Malfoys when they were brought to trial simply because they were rich and he knew sending them to jail would jeopardize his chances of becoming Minister of Magic. The Ministry would not have appreciated a man who lost them so much financial aid. That was when he had a chance of becoming Minister. Even now, Crouch would be prejudiced in favor of someone as rich as Narcissa Malfoy.

"That is absolutely ridiculous," he said. "Anyway, you couldn't have known who it was. According to every witness, the attackers were masked."

Dora smiled, "If I couldn't have known then why did you ask?"

Crouch, backed into a verbal trap, tried a new approach; "I'm afraid I can't take your word on this bit of evidence."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Weasley. "She seems quite sure and she is a very intelligent, honest person. I can give her a referral."

"I'm sure you could Weasley," said Crouch stiffly. "However, I am almost certain that, in this case, Miss Tonks's word is less than reliable due to her personal bias against Mrs. Malfoy."

"What do you mean 'personal bias'?" Dora asked, growing suspicious.

"I mean that I happen to be aware of the relationship between yourself and Mrs. Malfoy."

"What relationship?" asked Dora, her voice dangerously low. She could feel her temper rise. She knew what card Crouch was about to play. This man had the cool control of a politician; he knew how to get his way.

"Don't play dumb, Miss Tonks. Narcissa Malfoy is your aunt. She and the rest of your mother's family disowned your mother and you and now your prejudice is, deliberately or unconsciously, making your testimony—"

Dora punched him squarely in the nose. Crouch's brought his hand up to his nose as it (the nose, not the hand) began to bleed profusely. The other four men in the room were staring at her. Their expressions ranged from horrified to amused. Dora set her jaw and prepared for several impressively long lectures. They didn't come. Crouch left the room, shooting Dora a very angry look. Kingsley followed him, stopping only long enough to inform Dora that the information that she gave would only be used by the Ministry in attempt to understand what had happened during the battle. Under no circumstances would her comments be released to the press. It was impossible to tell by Kingsley's face what he was thinking as he left.

"Well that was interesting," said Lupin.

Dora stared at him, "You're not mad?"

"Not mad exactly," answered her uncle slowly. "Not yet at least," he added with a small smile. "Right now I'm too surprised to be mad. Where did that come from?"

Dora shrugged, "Sensitive subject."

"What is?" asked Mr. Weasley.

Dora shrugged again; she didn't want to talk about her family, her feelings, or her rather explosive temper. She changed the subject, "Why didn't you come find me?" she asked Remus. "And what exactly happened? I mean I know about the attack obviously but nothing afterward."

Remus explained that all the Death Eaters had Disapparated when the Aurors showed up. Diagon Alley was more or less in shambles and volunteers from the magical community were working to fix it up. About twenty-five people (including Dora) were injured during the battle and four were killed.

"So it wasn't just a spur of the moment thing, it was a planned battle?" asked Dora.

"We assume so," said Mr. Weasley, "but we may never know for sure. There isn't even any evidence that it was a group of Death Eaters."

"And I'm sorry I didn't contact you," Remus told Dora, "I tried but only blood relatives of the injured and Ministry officials were allowed to go into the sick room. I managed to get information that you were alright from a Healer."

"They wouldn't tell us anything either," said Mr. Weasley. "Charlie told me you were here when we heard about the attack on the alley—"

"You told him!" cried Dora, sticking her tongue out at Charlie. "I told you not to!"

Charlie shrugged, "You could've been dead. I figured we should check up on you so me and dad left Egypt early."

Dora shrugged back, "That makes sense."

Mr. Weasley stood, "I'm going to go talk to your healer, Dora," he announced. "I'll find out when you can travel."

Dora was instantly suspicious, "Travel where? I'm not going ho—"

"To the Burrow. I thought you might rather stay with us for the rest of the holidays."

Impulsively, Dora hugged him, blinking away tears. "Thank you."

Mr. Weasley turned to leave. As he reached the door, Dora realized something. "Hey Mr. Weasley!" she called, "What about Remus? Do think he could—"

"I have to leave tonight," her uncle broke in, "I have…business."

"Well then," said Mr. Weasley, "we'll let the two of you talk for awhile."

He and Charlie left, assuring Dora that they would return later.

"Where are you going?" Dora asked when they were gone.

"To find work."

She thought it over. "I don't believe you," she said simply.

Lupin laughed, "I would be very disappointed if you did believe me."

"But you won't tell me the truth?"

"Nope. So tell me what have you been up to since I left?"

Dora told him some stories about school and her friends and he told her a few stories of his adventures. Around seven, the two Weasleys returned and Remus announced that he would be leaving.

"I'll see you around," he said to Dora, shaking her hand.

She raised an eyebrow, "Another eight years?"

"Naw, make it six," Remus replied.

"Six it is."

Remus kissed her forehead, "Good-bye Nymphie," he teased.

She grinned back, "Sayonara, Uncle Moony."

She watched him as he left the room, wondering when she would see him again.

Mr. Weasley's voice broke her reverie, "Your healer said you can leave in the morning but you'll have to be careful."

Dora nodded. She was still thinking about the rather brief appearance of her foster uncle. She continued to think about him as she said good-night to Charlie and his father and fell asleep.

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A/n: Like it? Thanks to all reviewers and to my lovely beta Windowseat Wonderer. Review!


	7. Girl

A/n: It's been a month, as you may know since I last updated. Am v. sorry. Here it finally is. This song actually has some relevance (sorry about the last one). Hmmmm that seems to be all I need to say. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm not a multimillionaire so clearly I don't own Harry Potter. The song lyrics belong to Tori Amos.

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From in the shadow she calls  
and in the shadows she finds a way  
and in the shadow she crawls  
Clutching her faded photograph, my image under her thumb  
Yes with a message for my heart  
Yes with a message for my heart  
  
She's been everybody else's girl, maybe one day she'll be her own  
Everybody else's girl, maybe one day she'll be her own  
  
And in the doorway they stay  
and laugh as violins fill with water  
Screams from the bluebells can't make them go away  
Well I'm not seventeen but I've cuts on my knees  
Falling down as the winter takes one more cherry tree

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After spending a day and a half there, Dora decided that the Burrow was her favorite place on Earth. The Burrow was a hodgepodge of a building: messy, chaotic, and loving. A little over loving at times. As soon a she stepped over the threshold, Dora had been pushed into well cushioned and blanketed armchair by a very forceful Mrs. Weasley. She had sat in the chair for the first entire day she had spent at the Weasley home, entertained by a never ending stream of herbal tea and Weasley children. After a good night's sleep in a spare bed set up in Ginny's room, Dora decided that she was quite fit enough and that she did not require another day of 'armchair rest'. She spent the day indoors pursuing 'quiet activities' because Mrs. Weasley was still not convinced that her son's friend had recovered entirely. Although she refused to admit it, even to Charlie (who stayed with her all day even when she tried to persuade him to join the snowball fight the twins had started by dumping a bucket of snow out of their window onto Percy's head when he went out to feed the chickens), she still felt slightly nauseous when she stood up too long.

Around noon on the twenty-ninth, Dora's second day with the Weasleys, Millie and Rusty showed up to spend the rest of the day and that night at the Burrow. ****

After dinner, Mrs. Weasley sent the younger children to bed so that only the two adults, Bill, Dora, Charlie, Rusty, and Millie remained. Dora guessed that there was a serious talk coming. She was quite correct.

"Dora, I'd like to clarify a few parts of your…er…" Mr. Weasley began, rather unsuccessfully. He tried again, "What I mean to say is that I'm curious about your relations to Narcissa Malfoy and the man you called 'Uncle Moony.' I was under that impression that your family consisted of yourself and your parents."

Dora pursed her lips. She should have known this was coming. "My mother was raised in a pureblood household where Muggles, Muggle-borns, and anyone who sympathized with them were treated like dirt. Mum agreed with them more or less. She went to Hogwarts, was sorted into Slytherin, made rude remarks about Muggle-borns, flirted with all the pureblood boys, did it all by the book, for awhile. In her fifth or sixth year she started questioning the beliefs that she had always taken for granted. She might have changed her mind then, but she kept up appearances for a bit. She was never very brave, at least not brave enough to stand up to her family. Then she met Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born Hufflepuff in her year, and he fell madly in love with her. Ted was two things to Andromeda; he was a good guy who wasn't like the ones her parents threw at her and he was a way to escape from a family that she no longer liked. She realized that if she didn't marry him she would end up staying in her parents' Gods forsaken house until her mother found her a suitable marriage with some pureblood third cousin. She loved Ted too, I'm not saying she didn't, it's just that she might not have married him if her circumstances had been different. Anyway, when she got off the train at the end of her seventh year, she went with him- Ted I mean. Then, she did the unforgivable: she married him. She was burned off the family tapestry – disowned. I doubt it was anything less than treasonous to mention her name under a Black roof after that," Dora looked around at her audience, some watched her, some stared off elsewhere, she couldn't read their expressions.

Dora closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts, and continued the story, "There was one other Black of my mother's generation who rebelled. When I was three or four my mother's favorite cousin, Sirius, ran away from home and was disowned. He was sixteen at the time. Andie was thrilled. She hadn't seen him much since she got married; he had to sneak out to visit us. After he ran he would come see us during holidays and stuff. His friends came to sometimes and they became my surrogate family. They each had a nickname that the others called them. I called them all uncle and used their nicknames: Sirius was 'Uncle Padfoot', his best friend, James Potter, was 'Uncle Prongs', and Remus Lupin was 'Uncle Moony'. There was another one too, Peter Pettigrew (I called him 'Uncle Wormtail'), but I didn't see him as much as the others.

"When they graduated from school they would come over for dinner, or baby-sit me, sometimes all of them, sometimes one or two. Anyway, I hero-worshiped all of them, except maybe Peter. I only met him two or three times, now that I think about it. Then, Uncle Prongs got married and I adored Aunt Lily too, and in spite of Andromeda's crazy relatives and the fact that Ted doesn't have any, everything seemed okay.

"Then Sirius went all wrong. Lily, James, and Peter were murdered and Sirius went to jail, charged for their deaths and those of eleven other people. It was all over within twenty-four hours," she looked up again, her story over. "Does that cover it?" she asked. "Narcissa is not legally my aunt, anymore than Uncle Moony is legally my uncle, the only difference is that one is biologically family and the other I consider family."

The other occupants of the room nodded collectively and Mr. Weasley opened his mouth one more time to ask, "Why did you leave home?"

Dora shrugged, "Mum and I got in a fight." She had just told several of her closest friends, as well as three near strangers, some of the most personal secrets of her life--secrets she had never felt the need to share with anyone. It had been easy to spill once she had gotten started but, now she felt a bit uncomfortable with them knowing her entire history.

Mr. Weasley seemed to take her hint. "Well then, I think we should all head to bed." The statement was met with a general consensus, but when the adults had settled in for the night, Millie and Dora slipped out of Ginny's room, and Charlie and Rusty left Bill and Charlie's. Their meeting in the kitchen was completely spontaneous and unplanned, but all four of them were there. Of course, it could have been because Charlie saw Dora and Millie leave (they had only planned on getting something to eat) and he and Rusty had followed.

The boys arrived just in time to see Dora open the window to let in the owl that had been pecking at the window. It was really very strange. Not the actual presence of an owl at the Burrow, which was common, but the fact that it had showed up at midnight. The owl refused the dry cereal Charlie offered it and swooped away as soon as it had dropped its package into Dora's unexpecting arms. She frowned at it.

"What's wrong?" asked Millie.

Dora shook her head and began to tear off the paper, "I don't recognize the handwriting that's all," she answered as she picked up a note that had fallen out.

_Dear Dora,_ it read,

_I found this in my vault, which I visited after I left you. I thought you might want it back. You've grown up so much since I last saw you. Lily and James would be proud. I suppose Sirius would be, too. Happy belated Christmas. We'll see each other again, I'm sure of it, but good-bye for now._

_-Uncle M._

Dora read the twice before turning her attention to the box that had come with it. Slowly, she picked it up, opened it, and gently lifted out the object inside. It was a teddy bear, an old one, worn and tattered, clearly well loved by the child who had once owned it.

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"I remember that bear!" said Sirius jubilantly.

Tonks raised an eyebrow, "You do?" she asked, incredulous. Her cousin nodded. "After twelve years in prison and two on the run you still remember the teddy bear you bought twenty-two years ago for your cousin's daughter?"

"Yeah, I remember buying it too. We were at Hogsmeade at the end of my third year, James, Remus, Peter, and I…"

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The Marauders walked down the main street of Hogsmeade arguing about where to go first.

"Let's go to Zonko's, I need some more fireworks," said James.

"But James," whined Peter, "I thought we were going to Honeydukes, I'm starved!"

James and Sirius rolled their eyes and ignored their friend. The group continued to walk along the street until Sirius stopped abruptly, causing Peter to smash into him, causing them both to fall, causing Remus to trip over them, causing James to laugh at them, causing him to trip over a loose stone and fall into his fellow Marauders. When all four boys had righted themselves with considerable effort and much swearing, Remus turned, exasperated, to Sirius. "What the hell was that about?"

"I need to go in there," replied Sirius, pointing to Pandora's Toybox: Precocious Playthings, a small shop by the post office.

"Uh, Sirius, that's a toy store," Remus said.

"So?" asked Sirius, walking toward the shop.

"So toy stores sell fluffy stuffed animals and dress up clothes, which weren't things you were interested in, last time I checked," said James, eyeing his best friend strangely.

"I'm not looking for something for me," said Sirius as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it might have been to anyone who didn't know Sirius Black.

The other Marauders stared at Sirius; "Sirius, is there something we should know, mate?" asked James.

"Like what?"

"Like who the mother is."

"Andromeda," announced Sirius cheerfully.

Once again the Marauders were left speechless. "Andromeda's your cousin," Remus finally managed to choke out.

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Tonks cracked up. "That's brilliant, bloody brilliant," she gasped between peals of laughter.

"Yes, well, I can assure you, my dear cousin, I'm not your father," said Sirius with a grin.

His surrogate niece grinned back and said sarcastically, "Thank you Uncle Padfoot, darling, I was getting worried."

Sirius chuckled, "After my oh-so-trusting friends and I had cleared up that point, we went into the shop to buy you a gift. Your mother was due in about a month I think…"

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"Padfoot," James whined, "how dare you not tell us we're gonna be uncles."

"_You're_ not," Sirius pointed out. "_I_ am."

"Actually, none of us are," Remus joined the argument, "Andromeda is Sirius's cousin not his sister so that makes—" He was cut off by the scarf shoved into his mouth by Sirius.

While Remus simultaneously tried to pull the scarf from his mouth and beat Sirius over the head, James continued the conversation, talking to no one in particular. "But since Andie's sisters are both vindictive little bitches and Sirius is the only family member who speaks to her, that makes him the kid's uncle."

Remus stopped hitting Sirius at that point to roll his eyes and say: "No it doesn't. It makes him its first cousin once removed, you prat!"

"If I don't uncle the kid who will?" asked Sirius.

"'Uncle the kid'? Sirius, 'uncle' is a noun not a verb," said James.

"Hey, I thought you were on my side!" cried Sirius in fury.

"That was before you started using poor grammar," James teased.

Sirius sighed dramatically, "Anyway, every kid needs a cool uncle who can, you know, spoil it, feed it ice cream for breakfast, that kind of thing, and since Ted's an only child and Andie doesn't have any decent siblings, I'm it."

"Exactly," said James, "and since we're…you know cool…and everything we can be uncles, too"

"No you can't!" said Remus and Sirius in unison.

After a long argument that earned them several strange looks from passersby, Sirius and James came to the agreement that they would both be 'foster uncles' to 'the kid,' Remus washed his hands of the whole matter (figuratively speaking), and Peter wondered what they were arguing about. And so, in relative contentment, the Marauders walked into Pandora's Toybox: Precocious Playthings and headed toward the stuffed animal section because, as Sirius put it: "a kid can never have too many plushies." (This statement caused him much grief in the future, as the Marauders never forgave him for the use of the word 'plushies'). Once they reached the rather extensive selection of 'plushies,' a rather heated argument sprang up over whether to buy a dog (Sirius's choice, even before he became an animagus, he had been partial to dogs), a manticore (Peter's preference), a moose (James's idea), or a puffskein (Remus thought the kid might like something magical but not bloodthirsty). They finally settled on a teddy bear although, afterward, no one knew how they came up with that compromise.

And so, the four friends left the shop having split the cost of the bear somewhat evenly and feeling quite satisfied with themselves.

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Tonks grinned as Sirius's story concluded, "Well that about proves it," she said. "You lot really were mad."

Sirius nodded. "Quite," he agreed. "Now, what I want to know is how that teddy bear ended up with Remus."

"That was what I was about to explain to my friends when you interrupted."

Sirius gave a mock bow from his seat, "So sorry. Please continue."

She did.

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Rusty frowned, "He gave you a teddy bear. You're sixteen! Merlin, that guy's got a deranged sense of age appropriate gifts."

"It was mine when I was little. They gave it to me when I was born, Sirius and his friends."

"How'd your uncle get it?" asked Millie.

Dora sighed, more story telling. "On October 31, 1981, Remus Lupin came to our house. It was a little after 9:30 and I was in bed…"

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It was 9:33 and eight-year-old Nymphadora Tonks was pretending to be asleep. In reality she was impatiently awaiting a visit from Uncle Padfoot. He was very late. At 9:34, Nymphie heard the knock on the front door, followed by the sound of several locks and spells being undone, and then the creak of the door swinging open. Grinning from ear to ear, Nymphie jumped out of bed and ran out of her room. She had thought of the perfect excuse to get out of bed when Sirius came. She had accidentally-on-purpose left her teddy bear in the living room when her mother sent her to bed. Now she would retrieve it and Sirius would insist that she stay up with the adults for a little while.

Nymphie was halfway down the stairs when she peered through the railing and realized that it wasn't Uncle Padfoot who was talking to her mother, but Uncle Moony. Nymphie stopped. She needed to rethink her plan, Uncle Moony was slightly more rule abiding than her other uncles and chances were he would listen if her mother told her to go to bed and Sirius wasn't there. So she sat down to wait. And listen, of course.

"What's the matter?" It was her mother's voice.

Nymphie couldn't hear her uncle's response--he spoke in a hushed, rough voice; "Lily and James…betrayed…Harry…You-Know-Who…gone…but they're dead." The eight-year-old on the steps tried hard to understand the jumbled words that reached her ears. 'They' were dead, but who were 'they,' and who was gone, and who was betrayed. She leaned forward so she could see her mother and her uncle. She heard her mother mutter something disbelieving, then she heard Uncle Moony's response; "Sirius is a spy, Andromeda. He'll go to Azkaban and I'm glad of it."

Nymphie stared at her uncle. Uncle Padfoot a spy? She couldn't believe it and apparently neither could her mother. Nymphie listened in horror as her mother began to howl and shout, going on and on about Lily and James and Sirius. The little girl watched as tears ran down Uncle Moony's face. He reached out to Andie but she pulled away with a cry and picked up her daughter's teddy bear from where it sat on the couch, flinging it at him. "GET OUT!" she screeched. "GET OUT YOU CRAZED BASTARD! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! GET OUT, I HATE YOU, DON'T YOU EVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN YOU, YOU WEREWOLF!"

Moony stared at her for a moment. Nymphie had never seen so much hurt in someone's face. Then he reached down, picked up the teddy bear, and walked out.

Nymphie stood and had started to run down the stairs when she tripped and toppled the rest of the way, she stood and continued to run, past her mother who was crumpled on the ground. How could Andromeda kick him out like that? Nymphie loved her uncle. She ran out the door. "Uncle Moony!" she shouted. "Uncle Moony come back!" But he didn't come back, and suddenly, it dawned on her: he wouldn't come back and neither would Uncle Padfoot. It all made awful, irrational sense. Uncle Padfoot was a spy and he was going to prison. Uncle Moony's lost, hurt eyes would take him far away. Uncle Prongs and Aunt Lily…They're dead. She didn't know how she knew she just did. And her mother…Nymphie could tell that Andromeda, beautiful, lively, steady Andromeda, would never be the same again.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

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A/n: SO there it is. Please, please, please tell me what you think, I know y'all are busy but it take like 5 secs, I like to know you guys are there, it's v comforting. I don't really need to be telling you guys this, I love you guys, I've gotten far more reviews that I expected so rock on!


	8. Nothing On Me

A/n: Took forever, I know, so sorry. Today you will read a hopefully soon to be infamous bit of Dora revenge. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Nothing from the HP books, including a couple of specific lines, belongs to me. It's all JK Rowling's. The song is Shawn Colvin's

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Nothing on Me

by Shawn Colvin

Well I don't tell jokes  
And I don't take notes  
You been sayin there ain't much hope  
You got nothin on me  
I got friends uptown  
And they don't talk down  
They been keepin me safe and sound  
We got somethin to be  
  
So in case you hadn't noticed  
I'm alright  
Not like I was before  
Things used to be so hopeless  
But not tonight  
Tonight I'm walkin out that door  
  
I'm not gonna cry  
I'm wavin goodbye  
And I know this time  
You got nothin on me  
  
Well it ain't that tough

Just more of the usual stuff  
One heartache is more than enough  
There ain't nothin to see  
  
I got friends uptown  
And they still come 'round  
They been keepin me safe and sound  
We got somethin to be  
  
So don't you try to save me  
With your advice  
Or turn me into somebody else  
Cuz I'm not crazy and you're not nice  
Baby keep it to yourself  
  
I'm not gonna cry  
And I'm wavin goodbye  
And I know this time

You got nothin on me

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The first day of the new term at Hogwarts dawned bright and early. Dora dragged her very sleepy and confused friends to breakfast as soon as the meal began.

"Don't know what the big rush is," muttered Rusty with a yawn, "but you could have let the rest of us sleep."

Dora grinned at him, wide-awake, "Trust me, you'll be glad you came."

"Came for what?" groaned Charlie.

The answer came twenty minutes later with the mail.

Dora, ignoring her newspaper, kept her eyes on the Ravenclaw table. Her friends looked from that table and then back at Dora in confusion until—

BAM

"—FEO RODRIGEZ!" resonated a female voice. "I AM SICK AND TIRED OF SENDING YOU FRESH GILDEROY LOCKHART BOXERS EVERY TIME YOU WET THE BED—"

Everyone in the hall had stopped their conversations to look toward the racket. More than one mouth hung open in shock.

"—AND I HEAR THAT YOU'VE BEEN WAKING UP EVERY NIGHT SCREAMING ABOUT BEING EATEN BY RUBBER DUCKS. I KNOW YOU LEFT WADDLES AT HOME BUT THAT IS NO EXCUSE, YOU ARE SIXTEEN FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, YOU SHOULDN'T NEED AT STUFFED PLATYPUSS TO SING YOU LULABYS EVERY NIGHT—"

Feo had, by this time, turned fifty shades of red and looked as though he might faint. The other students were staring at the handsome Ravenclaw. Some looked astonished, others mocking.

"—YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE NAME WIZARD! PLEASE CLIMB INTO A CAVE AND STAY THERE UNTIL FLOBBERWORMS FLY—"

The message's end was greeted with a stunned silence. Suddenly everyone was talking at once--standing on benches to get a better look at Feo and discussing the matter animatedly. Everyone but four Gryffindors. Charlie, Millie, and Rusty slowly turned to face Dora who had innocently returned to her breakfast. Too innocently.

"Nymphadora Tonks," said Charlie quietly as a crooked smile appeared on his face. Without another word spoken among them, all four students stood and left the hall.

"A howler Dora? That was original," commented Millie as they started across the snow covered grounds headed toward a beech tree by the lake.

"Did you like?" asked Dora solemnly. "I thought it was lacking a bit in content but I was in a hurry."

"Well it wasn't particularly…" Charlie trailed off, squinting at the castle. "Looks like we've got company."

Feo Rodrigez and a gang of Ravenclaws were walking toward the tree. Dora grinned. "Hello Feo," she said pleasantly as he reached her, "can I help you?"

"You think you're hot stuff don't you, you little bitch!" he snarled, and, before Dora could react, a large Ravenclaw had her arms pinned behind her and Feo's wand was pointed at her throat. Dora couldn't reach her own wand. _Feo's quick that's for sure,_ she thought, _a bit deranged, but quick._

_"Expelliarmus!" _Feo's wand flew out of his hand and Rusty, who had shouted the spell, caught it in the air.

"Make like a tree and leave," said Millie, whose wand was now pointed at Feo. Feo stood completely motionless, still in shock.

"_Now,_" commanded Charlie, "before we make you." He flicked his wand, conjuring half a dozen fang-bearing rubber ducks which proceeded to chase Feo and Co. back to the castle as other students, who had sensed a fight and followed Feo onto the ground, cracked up.

Dora went to stand between Charlie and Rusty, grinning, and slung her arms around their shoulders. "I love you guys; you know that," she said, kissing them each on the cheek. The boys barely wrinkled their noses at this display of affection; they had grown used to such displays over the years. Dora hugged Millie briefly.

"MISS TONKS!" Professor McGonagall's voice echoed over the snow covered grounds.

"Shit," muttered Dora.

"What'd you do this time?" asked Rusty

"I dunno. Maybe they found out about the Howler."

"You mean they traced it?" asked Millie.

"Yeah, there was a warning or something in the instructions for the Howler. I didn't read it but I think— Hello Professor."

McGonagall glared at her. "Miss Tonks, what is the meaning of this?"

"Well Feo was being a prat so I figured maybe a little…er…Howler might, you know, remind him…" Dora trailed off lamely.

"Miss Tonks, don't know what you're talking about. I was inquiring about…" the Transfiguration Professor blinked, "Wait, you mean _you _sent the Howler to Feo Rodrigez."

"Isn't that what you…damn it!" Dora realized that she had just given away her grand revenge.

"If you are going to swear, Miss Tonks, I'd advise not to do it in the presence of your teachers," said McGonagall.

"Yes ma'am."

"And no I wasn't talking about the Howler sent to Mr. Rodrigez. It was good of you to confess although it really wasn't necessary. I was, however, referring to Dungbombs that you felt compelled to set off in Professor Snape's office last night. A bit of end of holiday fun?" Dora shrugged guiltily. "Regardless," McGonagall continued, "you're little prank was witnessed by the portrait across the hall from the aforementioned office.

"I knew I should have bribed off that portrait," Dora muttered.

McGonagall's eyebrows contracted in a scowl but Dora could've sworn that the professor's mouth twitched upward, just slightly. "Well then, you will serve two detentions, one for the Dungbombs and one for the Howler."

Dora nodded and McGonagall left.

_Dear Becca,_

_Once, in the third year, Rusty decided he didn't want to wait in the hall for Snape before Potions class so he blasted open the door and went in. Then I decided it might be fun to surprise good old Snape so we persuaded everyone to get in the dungeon and Charlie fixed the door and sealed it up like it had been before Rusty blew it up and we put the torches out and everyone hid behind the tables. So then, when Snape showed up, opened the door, and we all jumped out and yelled "Happy Birthday!" even though it wasn't his birthday (that was one of the Hufflepuff's idea. We had Potions with the Hufflepuffs). Snape was furious. I can't see why. It was such a simple prank and no one got hurt…I just asked Millie and she seems to remember something about Snape holding a torch and jumping cause he was startled and catching himself on fire so maybe that has something to do with it. Anyhow, he took a bazillion points off and then gave Charlie and Millie and Rusty and I detention even though no one told him it was our idea. So of course we protested and I don't remember all the details but I do remember a lot of things breaking and about half the class standing on tables and shouting and in the end Snape had taken a grand total of 213 points and gave the whole class a week of detentions in addition to Rusty, Charlie, Millie, and my first ones because Snape seems to think that everything that happens is our fault. Like the time some Slytherin showed up at dinner with an extra set of arms and Snape immediately blamed it on us. That man is such a biased, bastardly…bastard. I just reminded Charlie of that particular incident and he pointed out that it was us who mad the kid grow extra arms…or me at least. But that isn't the point, the point is that Snape had no reason to think that._

_I seem to have forgotten the whole point of this letter…I believe it was meant to show you, my dear penpal, just how amazing my friends are although it might have just shown how much trouble we get in. It is not generally our fault, however. _

_Oh shit! I have just been reminded (by my dear friend Rusty who just entered the room and said "Hey Dora can I copy your Charms essay?") that we have a Charms essay due in approximately ten hours and thirty three minutes so I'd better go stick my face in a book. I assure you that I'd much rather write this letter to you. In fact I would much rather write a letter to just about anyone but that is not the point. The point is that I have got to go._

_Toodles,_

_Dora _

"You two need to eat," Millie said, loading bacon and toast onto Charlie's plate as Rusty tried to feed Dora her scrambled eggs. Neither Charlie nor Dora had slept much the night before and now refused food with nauseated expressions. The reason for this rather unusual behavior was the Inter-House Quidditch Cup Final that they would be playing in that day. Fifteen minutes of unrequited coaxing later, Charlie stood. Without being asked, Dora got up as well. She alerted her fellow chasers Alexis Samuels and Lano Smith as Charlie pulled Oliver Wood (keeper), Tony Young, and Jason McFree (beaters) from their untouched breakfasts. Together and in silence, the team headed for the pitch.

"Okay men…and women," Charlie said, when the team was dressed. "This is it. The big one. The one we've all been waiting for. And we are going to win."

"Or else," amended Dora, but even she looked slightly green and there was more anxiety than humor in her statement. And with good reason. They were playing Slytherin. This, even in a normal match was enough to make a person feel quite ill but in the Cup Final, the tension in the air was so thick, that Dora could almost taste it.

Charlie took a deep breath and stared at the doors, unable to move forward. Dora gave him a little shove, "Go get 'em tiger." He looked back at her and she raised her eyebrows expectantly. Charlie shrugged, then lifted his head and led his team onto the field.

"Ladies and gentlemen I give you Wood… Samuels… Smith… Tonks… McFree… Young… and Weasley!" Rusty's voice resonated through the crowd. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws alike screamed and cheered as the Gryffindor team waked out onto to pitch. The Slytherins booed copiously.

"And for Slytherin," Rusty continued with much less enthusiasm, "Flint… Arcus… Arcus… Spelnix… Clanes… Snyder… and Elias." As the Slytherin team ran out the Slytherins began to cheer but the rest of the stadium erupted with jeers and catcalls.

The two teams faced each other, exchanging menacing looks. Dora surveyed the opposing team. They were, frankly, huge. The smallest was a head taller than Jason, the largest Gryffindor, and three times as wide.

"Captains, shake hands," said Madame Hooch. Charlie and Eugene Spelnix, a Slytherin beater, stepped forward and did so. When they let go, Dora noticed red marks along Charlie's hand.

"Mount your booms," shouted Hooch. She gave a loud trill on her whistle and both teams kicked off.

"Lano Smith has the Quaffle—he passes to Dora Tonks who passes it back. Smith's heading in to shoot—and—oh, Smith does a nice Sloth Roll to avoid a Bludger hit by Bryan Clanes but he drops the Quaffle—Slytherin in possession, Justin Snyder's got the Quaf—Alexis Samuels has got it now—"

"C'mon 'Lexi!" Dora screamed. She soared toward the goalposts dropping below Alexis in case her teammate had to drop the Quaffle.

"A Bludger is heading toward Samuels—and some nice work from Beater Jason McFree, he knocks the Bludger away from Samuels—and she scores!"

Three-fourths of the crowd broke into triumphant cheers.

"Slytherin in possession—Biton Arcus heading toward the Gryffindor goalposts—Tony Young slams a Bludger toward Arcus…he dodges… passes to his twin Cleobis—back to Arcus…the other one—he passed to Snyder—Snyder shoots and—YES! Oliver Wood, Gryffindor teams newest talent, makes a spectacular save—score's 10-0 Gryffindor—Tonks has the Quaffle—Smith—back to Tonks—she's getting close—"

Dora bent low over her broom, Quaffle tucked under her right arm. She was getting close; she could see Otus Flint in front of the Slytherin goalposts. She began to straighten up, preparing to shoot. Then something collided with her left temple. Stars and snitches flashed before her eyes. Dora was knocked sideways. She dropped the Quaffle and clutched her broom with both hands, fighting to stay on.

"Snyder, slimy little asshole—" shouted Rusty.

"GRANT!" warned Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry, I mean after Snyder punched Tonks in the head like the cowardly bastard that he is—_sorry_ Professor."

A whistle blew. "Penalty to Gryffindor!" shouted Madame Hooch.

Someone threw Dora the Quaffle. Taking careful aim she took the shot and—

"SHE SCORES! TWENTY-NOTHING GRYFFINDOR!"

Slytherin chaser, Cleobis Arcus, scored next.

"Twenty-Ten Gryffindor!"

"Thirty-Ten Gryffindor!"

"Thirty-Twenty Gryffindor!"

"Thirty-Thirty! And its tied folks!"

The game had gotten intense and dirty. Lano had taken another penalty when Bryan Clanes smashed a Bludger into Oliver Wood's face, but he missed. Gryffindor Beaters, Tony Young and Jason McFree, weren't exactly sparing Slytherin any pain. Tony had nearly gutted Slytherin seeker Roger Elias and Jason had come quite close to putting Justin totally out of commission with a well aimed Bludger to the chest.

Dora wiped the sweat from her forehead. They were tied then losing then tied again. Lano had the Quaffle; he passed it to Dora. An excited murmur rose through the crowd as Dora flew toward the goalposts. A murmur that she knew had nothing to do with her having the Quaffle. She knew quite well that this could mean only one thing; Charlie and Roger were after Snitch. Ignoring her urge to turn and watch Dora continued toward the goalposts. If neither Seeker caught the Snitch, the Gryffindors would need this goal. She aimed and shot.

"Elias and Weasley race after the Snitch as Tonks scores. Score is Fifty- forty Gryffindor and the game could be just seconds from ending," Rusty hollered.

Dora spun her broom around to watch the Seekers' progress. They were neck in neck, Charlie pulling slightly ahead. Then, in a motion too fast for Dora to catch, Elias accelerated and snatched the Snitch.

For a moment there was silence as everyone tried to figure out what had happened. Then, the Slytherins began to cheer. "Dammit!" Rusty shouted into his megaphone before throwing it on the ground. The teams landed. The Slytherins cheering and gloating, the Gryffindors walking sullenly to the dressing rooms.

Charlie went straight to the showers without speaking to anyone. The rest of the team was in a similarly gloomy state, changing, showering, cleaning their brooms with less than five words spoken among them. One by one, they shouldered their broomsticks and slunk away. Lano left, giving Dora a squeeze on the shoulder, leaving her to finish pulling on her school robes. She and Charlie were the only ones left. Charlie still hadn't come out of the shower rooms although Dora couldn't hear any water running. _He's waiting to make sure everyone's gone,_ she thought. _He wants to be alone so he can wallow in defeat._ She smiled to herself and then sat down to wait.

Fifteen minutes later, her friend came out, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He didn't notice her at first.

"I think you might have just set a personal record there Charlie, baby. You've been in the shower for forty minutes, I've known you to be dressed and ready to go two minutes and thirty seven seconds after you've woken up."

"You shouldn't have waited,"

Dora stood, "I don't suppose it would do any good at all to tell you that it's not you fault."

He raised his eyebrows.

"It wasn't! His broom was better that's all…" Dora winced as she realized her mistake. Charlie's family couldn't afford to get him a better broomstick. "I'm sorry, Charlie, you know me, my mouth—"

He gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about."

She returned it, "C'mon, we're gonna miss the party!"

"Party? We lost."

Dora shrugged, "So, a party is a party. We better hurry; all the butterbeer'll be gone."

As they left the dressing rooms, Millie and Rusty, who had been waiting outside the door, went to them. "It wasn't your fault, it wasn't your fault, it wasn't your fault," Millie told Charlie quickly, giving him and Dora each a hug.

"And, in case you're even slower than we thought," said Rusty, with a grin, "it wasn't you fault."

"Did it ever occur to you guys that you might be making it worse? I mean why would you tell me it wasn't my fault unless you thought I'd think it was and why would you think I thought it was my fault unless it was."

His friends stared at him for a moment, trying to make sense of this statement. Then Dora replied, "Because you adore us of course."

"What? Dora that didn't make any sense," said Charlie.

She shrugged, slipped one arm through Rusty's and the other through Millie's arm who grabbed Charlie and they started back to the castle.

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A/n: So how'd you like it? I'm not sure how well I wrote the Quidditch game. I've never done one before and it was a lot harder than I expected. Also, you may have noticed parallels between Charlie and how Oliver Wood is during the real books. In fact the entire pep talk was taken straight from book 1 thus the note in the disclaimer. Rusty's commentating is also quite a lot like Lee Jordan's. I did all this because it kind of made sense to me. You coach how you were coached and commentate how you were commentated and all that. Tell me what you think of how that turned out. And did Dora's revenge meet up to you're expectations? I hope so. Review!


	9. What's My Age Again?

A/n: So, so sorry about the incredibly long delay. I wish a could promise it will never happen again but I don't know if that is true, so instead I promise to try not to let it happen ever again. As a warning, this chapter did not go through editing as long as the rest so there might be some errors of course there are usually some errors but there might be a couple more than usual. Another warning: this is a very fluffy pointless chap. Thought you should know. So here it is consider it a Christmas present (or some other kind of present if you don't celebrate Christmas.) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own, blah blah blah, you know the drill. Don't own the song either.

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What's My Age Again?

Blink 182

Nobody likes you when you're 23  
And are still more amused by prank phone calls  
What the hell is call ID, my friends say I should act my age  
What's my age again?  
What's my age again?

And that's about the time she walked away from me  
Nobody likes you when you're 23  
And you still act like you're in freshman year  
What the hell is wrong with me, my friends say I should act my age  
What's my age again?

That's about the time that she broke up with me (what's my age again?)  
No one should take themselves so seriously  
With many years ahead to fall in line  
Why would you wish that on me, I'll never wanna act my age  
What's my age again?

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Potions was, by general consensus, the worst class offered at Hogwarts. Divination had been in the running for awhile, but, in the end, Potions had won out. Professor Snape had taken his post as Potions Master a few years before Dora came to Hogwarts and had quickly made the Gryffindor's most hated list. This sentiment was fueled quite effectively by Dora's personal feelings of contempt towards the man. After all, a child doesn't spend eight years hearing how terrible a man is and come out of it all feeling totally unbiased toward him. Unfortunately for the professor it was as much in Dora's nature to sit and pretend that she liked someone she loathed as it was in her cousin's nature to even pretend to be polite to Snape; that is to say it wasn't in her nature at all. And so throughout their Hogwarts careers, she and her friends did everything in their power to make their time with the Potions Master as miserable for him as it was for them. In this process, their time together ceased to be unpleasant and they came to enjoy their biweekly opportunities to antagonize the man. So much so that even Rusty, who had yet to settle on a career but was quite sure that it would not involve Potions, had opted to take the N.E.W.T. class.

Because of this, Dora really didn't mind that, on the afternoon of her birthday, in May, she found herself sitting in the dungeons learning about the components of Sense Stealer potions. Or rather, pretending to learn about said potions. She was, in fact, having a not-quite-whispered conversation with her three best friends. The conversation was so not-whispered that not only was the entire class watching, Snape had also turned to glare at them. This, of course, was the point.

"Hey Millie," Rusty stage whispered, "heard you got lucky last—"

"Mr. Grant, please refrain from using such blatant sexual innuendo in this class," said Snape icily.

"What about non-blatant sexual innuendo, professor?" asked Dora, slouched in her chair next to Rusty chewing on her sugar quill, blonde and turquoise hair sticking out at strange angles from her messy bun.

"Yeah," said Charlie. "Hey Dora, when was the last time you fell down the stairs?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Uh…last night."

"And you Mills?" Charlie turned to Millie.

"Oh, you know, uh, recently. Not nearly as recently as our dear professor there."

"Uh Charlie," Dora asked as they left the dungeons, giggling and short 25 house points, "what's so dirty about falling down stairs?"

Charlie grinned, "Wouldn't you like to know."

After dinner they went out onto the grounds. They settled down on a shady patch of grass, lying down in a sort of circle.

"You know, now that Dora's had her birthday, we're all of age," said Rusty.

His friends nodded, staring into space and trying to fathom what this coming of age meant.

After awhile, Dora broke the silence; "I think I'm gonna move out."

"Out where?" asked Millie.

"Dunno, just out. If I ever make it work with my parents it's not going to be now. Now I need to figure my own life. And I'm seventeen now so I can legally get a place of my own. I think I'll find a job in downtown London for the summer, get an apartment."

Abruptly Rusty sat up. "Hey, my aunt and uncle have this little grocery store in Notting Hill. Uncle Tweeze and Aunt Tina used to live in the apartment above the place but then they had kids and moved to a bigger place. I bet they would give us all jobs and rent the apartment to us cheap. Between the four of us we could pay the bills, get food, and still have some cash to blow."

"Us? I wasn't asking you guys…I mean it would be awesome but…well your parents and—" Dora stammered. They were all sitting up now, considering this new possibility with enthusiasm.

"Are you kidding?" Charlie said. "It'd be great. We could pretend to be Muggles. You know go see moolies and stuff."

"Its movies Charlie," Rust corrected.

"Are you sure?" asked Dora. Her friends nodded eagerly. Dora grinned. "It's a plan."

They discussed the subject enthusiastically for an hour or so, until it grew dark.

"We should head in," Millie finally declared, yawning. "Curfew's coming up."

Dora tilted her head to the side, biting her lip and looking thoughtful.

"Uh-oh," said Charlie, they all knew that look. "What's up?" he asked Dora.

Dora's eyes came back into focus. "Why don't we sleep out here tonight?"

The others stared. "We'd be so busted," Millie said finally.

"No we wouldn't, c'mon it'll be fun, we can play pointless sleepover games, stare at the stars, etc. etc."

"Yeah and then we can get expelled," said Millie.

"We won't get expelled for sleeping outside, Mils," said Charlie calmly. "I'm in."

Dora grinned at him. "Rusty?"

Rusty shrugged then nodded.

"Oh all right," said Millie, "but don't say I didn't warn you."

Dora grinned. "I won't have to."

They woke a little after dawn in almost perfect unison. A cheesy, paperback novel sort of event but interesting never the less. Dora turned her head to the left to see Charlie's looking down at her and realized that her head was on his stomach. Looking down, she saw Rusty's head was in her lap and his eyes were open as well. A just-as-awake-as-the-rest Millie was rolling out from under Charlie's head. Apparently the sleeping arrangement had been comfortable the night before, but morning had had made it quite clear that it had not been their most brilliant idea. The basic idea of the settlement had been Dora's plan. She had suggest, when at about four in the morning they decided it was time to get some sleep, that, in order for everyone to have a 'pillow', they should sleep in a ring, Charlie's head on Millie's calves, Millie's head in Rusty's lap, Rusty's head in Dora's lap, and Dora's head on Charlie's stomach. This had worked quite well at the time, provided that no one fidgeted too much, but as the sun rose, Dora discovered that her neck ached and her knees were asleep.

"That was entertaining," said Charlie, sitting up.

"Charming," Rusty added, half sarcastic, half serious.

"Very," Millie agreed, almost completely sarcastic.

"Quite," said Dora. "Never again?"

They agreed.

"At least we didn't get caught," said Rusty, optimistically.

As they turned toward to castle they saw professors McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore, and Sprout striding toward them, looking none to pleased.

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A/n: Hope you liked it. Sorry it's so short. Thanks so much to my reviewers! I love you guys. Review and make my day. Happy holidays!


	10. Give Me Novacaine

A/n: Hey guys. Two weeks! I think that might be a record for me! This chap's kinda crazy cause it basically cuts the summer into four chunks, but you guys are smart so you'll figure it out. A note about the songs: they're sort of the soundtrack for the fict. They are generally something to do w/ the chappie. They're also how I name chapters. So, hope you like this one. I liked writing it so I hope that is a good sign. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

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Give Me Novacaine

Green Day

Take away the sensation inside  
Bitter sweet migraine in my head  
Its like a throbbing tooth ache of the mind  
I can't take this feeling anymore

Drain the pressure from the swelling,  
The sensations overwhelming,  
Give me a long kiss goodnight  
and everything will be alright  
Tell me that I won't feel a thing  
So give me Novacaine

Out of body and out of mind  
Kiss the demons out of my dreams  
I get the funny feeling, that's alright  
Jimmy says it's better than here,  
I'll tell you why

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"Were you in trouble?" asked Sirius. "For sleeping outside?"

"We got a couple detentions," said Dora.

"And did you stay with your one friend above the grocery?"

"Oh yeah, that was great. We had a blast…for the most part…"

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The Muggle Way

"DORA, TURN THAT BLOODY MUSIC DOWN!"

They had been at the apartment in above Uncle Tweeze's grocery for three weeks. The store had closed up for the day and Rusty was screaming at Dora over the blaring noise of her muggle CD player which was playing a track from Guns n Roses, a muggle band that Dora had attached herself to.

"Sorry, darling," she said with a grin, and turned the volume dial on the player down a bit, "better?"

Rusty nodded and turned back to the game of chess he was playing with Charlie. They were all sitting around their smallish living room, furnished in a mismatched, sporadic fashion. Some things that were there when they got there and some of their own personal touches: some posters of Quidditch teams and wizard bands, a couple of flowering plants Mrs. Weasley had donated, a rug from Millie's room at home to cover the bare wood floor, etc. Chinese take-out containers from their dinner currently littered the room.

Dora hopped up. "Let's go," she said, "we need to get out."

Twenty minutes and much whining later they were out the door and walking down the street. "I don't see why we can't just Apparate somewhere," Rusty complained. They had all taken their Apparation test earlier that month. Charlie had taken his twice, but eventually they had all passed.

"What if there are Muggles watching?" asked Millie.

"Besides," added Dora, "it's more fun this way."

"Where are we going?" Charlie asked her.

Dora tipped her head back and stared randomly into the sky, spinning around before saying: "Wherever our feet take us," in wispy, mock-Trelawney tones.

They wandered for a half an hour before their feet took them to a small park outside a school. They sat and chatted for awhile, watching the day turn into night. Around nine, Dora stood and stretched. "Hey Rusty," she said, "still want to Apparate somewhere?"

"Where to?" asked Rusty suspiciously.

"Malfoy Manor."

The four of them appeared at their destination almost simultaneously.

"What are we going to do to them?" asked Charlie.

Dora ignored the first question and addressed the second. "We're going to do this the Muggle way." With a quick wave of her wand she conjured a backpack... It appeared to be full…

An hour later, they sat back to admire their work. The mansion was covered with big bunches of toilet paper. Juvenile? Yes. Harmful? Not so much. Amusing? Very.

"You know," said Dora thoughtfully, "it'll be house elves who end up dealing with this."

The others nodded, slightly disturbed by the thought. It seemed wrong that elves would pay for the crimes of their masters. As if of one mind, all four of them pulled out their wands "_Accio toilet paper." _And then,_ "Evanesco."_

"It was a good idea," said Millie.

Dora nodded, "And it was fun: no regrets."

They Disapparated.

* * *

Observations

Dora was working at the cash register. This was her regular job. Stocking shelves had proved too dangerous for the klutzy teenager. She liked the position-she enjoyed watching people.

She scanned a box of cereal, making small talk with the shopper, a regular named Jane Caper. A bearded man was next. Then a mother, with her infant, toddler, and two young children. The toddler began to cry as the mother was paying. Dora took the baby from her so she could comfort him. When the child was calmed, the groceries paid for and the baby returned, the woman moved on and an elderly couple took her place.

Dora worked, a smile on her face, the auburn hair she always sported at work for the sake of consistency pulled up in a ponytail, until 6:30. She spent the days observing the store and the people in it. When her shift ended, she and her friends returned to their apartment and scrounged up a meal. They had evenings off while Rusty's uncle ran the shop.

And so July passed, and the end of August drew ever closer, bringing with it the start of their final year at Hogwarts.

* * *

A Time For All Things

One morning in August, on which all four friends had the day off, the lot of them sat around the kitchen table, munching on toast and reading the paper. Turning the page, Millie gasped. "Dora isn't that…" she began, but then cut herself off.

Dora looked at her questioningly from the other side of the table.

Rusty peered over Millie's shoulder. "Yeah, Dora, I think that's your grandmother!" Millie kicked him in the shins just a trifle too late.

Dora snatched the paper from her friend. It was open to the obituaries. A picture of a stately woman had been placed in the middle. The woman, dressed in black velvet, sneered up at Dora. She had black hair, only slightly grayed, a beaky nose, and pale, wrinkled skin.

**In Memoriam**

**Cassiopeia Leto Pasiphae Black**

Mrs. Black, 104, passed away on August 25, 1990.

Born in London, on November 2, 1885, she passed her time in the town and in other areas of England and France. During her life, Mrs. Black made many generous donations to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, the Ministry of Magic Relief Fund, and countless other charities.

Mrs. Black was preceded in death by her husband, Utgard Black. She is survived by her two daughters, Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and her grandson, Draco Malfoy.

A service in her honor will be held …

Dora didn't finish reading. Late that night, she crawled out of bed and crept down the hall to the kitchen. Pulling down a tin of biscuits from the cabinet, she sat down at the table and looked at her reflection in the microwave that sat on the counter. She scrunched up her face and concentrated. When she opened her eyes, her hair had turned black and hung over her back in long, thick curls. The ridge on the bridge of her nose had become more clearly defined as had her cheekbones. The scar on her cheek had appeared.

"I wonder," she said aloud and to herself, "if there is some emotion that I ought to be feeling or something."

"I reckon however you do feel is all right."

Dora whirled around to see Charlie standing in the door frame.

"Damn! You scared me."

"Sorry. I'll go." He turned to leave.

"No--stay for a little while?"

He nodded and went to sit next to her. "Want to talk?"

"I've been wondering," she began slowly, not really knowing how to start, "I've been wondering if I should be sad or happy or angry but…I don't really feel any of that. I don't really care at all. Is that horrible? That's horrible, right? I mean there should be something, angry is better than nothing."

Charlie thought for a minute. "Nothing is okay, if that's how you feel. I mean you can't force emotions, right?"

"I feel guilty."

"Guilty's not okay. You didn't do anything wrong."

She looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Thanks, Charlie."

"Anytime."

They got up and began to walk back toward their rooms in silence. Dora seemed rather preoccupied, looking at her feet. "Night," said Charlie.

Dora looked at him. A silent tear was tracing its way down her cheek. Charlie frowned and reached up to brush it away. She started crying harder, pressing her back against the wall and sliding down to the floor. He sat down next to her and they stayed there for a long time, his arms around her, her face buried in his shoulder, crying for reasons that had everything and nothing to do with her grandmother's death. For reasons that had something to do with wishing she was sad about what had happened and for reasons that she didn't even understand. When she lifted her head, she had stopped crying. "Okay, I'm done now."

He raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure? This shoulder's worn out but the other's dry."

She gave him a watery grin and nodded. Then, surprising even herself, she leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. He kissed her back, and for a moment, they both forgot why her face was wet. Then they moved apart and went to there own rooms and to bed.

* * *

Back into the Wizarding World

Dora, Rusty, Millie, and Charlie's last day of work fell on the 28th of August. They moved out on the 29th, booking rooms at the Leaky Cauldron. On the 30th, they did there back to school shopping.

"Okay," said Millie, "we've got parchment and quills, books, potions ingredients, anyone need new robes?"

"I could use a new set," said Rusty. "I ruined one in Potions last year, remember?"

The rest went to get ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor where Rusty joined them, twenty minutes later. Charlie raised his ice cream cone. "To us. To another summer gone."

"Huzzah!" yelled Dora.

"Cheers!" added Millie.

"Forever more!" Rusty suggested.

They all took a bite, silent for a moment. When they finished their ice cream, it was off to the inn and then, two days later, to Hogwarts. A fresh year. Their final year.

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A/n: Let me know what you think. Thanks so much to all reviewers! And let me know if there's anything you guys want to see. Some things I already have planned out but I can try to work stuff in. Please review! Thanks.


	11. Auf Acshe

A/n: I'm so sorry for the delay. It's been three months! I know it is inexcusable but I will try to excuse it with the generic excuse: I had writers block. It's actually true. Anyway here it is. Thanks to all reviewers and my lovely beta! You guys are fabulous. The title by the way is the name of a Franz Ferdinand song, no I can't pronounce it either. Now without further ado: chapter 11.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything that belongs to someone else namely J.K. Rowling and Franz Ferdinand.

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Auf Acshe

By Franz Ferdinand

You see her, you can't touch her  
You hear her, you can't hold her  
You want her, you can't have her  
You want to, but she won't let you  
You see her, you can't touch her  
You hear her, you can't hold her  
You want her, you can't have her  
You want to, but she won't let you

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"Merlin's beard!" sighed Dora, collapsing into an armchair near Millie and Rusty.

Charlie, who had come in with her, sat down next to Millie who raised an eyebrow. "How were try-out?" she asked.

"Well—" Charlie began.

Dora cut him off, "—they were an absolute disaster. We had about fifty wanna-be Beaters who spent the entire hour bouncing Bludgers off each other trying to show off their 'talents'. They were terrible"

"They weren't as bad as the Chasers," Charlie pointed out. "Half of them couldn't even fly straight."

"All you need is what, three trainable fliers, right?" said Rusty.

Charlie nodded absently, studying his notes. "Hey Dora," he asked, "would it seem too biased if I made my brothers Beaters?"

Dora looked up at him and shook her head. "The best is the best, they were it."

He nodded. "How about Chasers?"

She thought for a moment then shook her head again. "Too much chaos, they were all over the place, I couldn't see a thing." Charlie sighed. "But I think I remember one girl that was pretty good," continued Dora. "I think her name was Angelina."

Charlie circled Angelina's name and picked up a rather large Potions book, groaning. "Too much to do! I have a Potions essay to write, Transfiguration questions to answer, a analysis of the Demiguise and its invisibility defense to write, and a whole chapter in Defense Against the Dark Arts to read, all by tomorrow."

"That's seventh year for you," said Rusty cheerfully, "work, work, work and then work some more."

"Thanks."

September was indeed a hectic month for Dora and her friends. Classes for seventh years were intensive and they spent their nights frantically attempting to finish their mountain homework for the next week of classes. During the weekend, however, Dora, Charlie, Rusty, and Millie found time to visit Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper.

It was drizzling as they made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid served them tea and treacle fudge (Dora slipped hers under the table and gave it to Fang) and they talked about their summer and his and about the year ahead.

As the others pulled on their cloaks, preparing to return to the castle, Hagrid pulled Dora aside. "When you goin' ter ask that boy of yers out on a date?" he asked bluntly.

"What boy of mine?"

Hagrid gave her a pointed look and jerked his head toward the door.

Dora's eyes widened. "Charlie! Why would you think that? He's just my friend, Hagrid, it's not like that," she protested.

Hagrid just shrugged. "Seems to be a bit of 'that' if yeh ask me."

She just gaped at him. "Oi, Dora!" hollered Rusty. "C'mon!"

"Trust me Hagrid, that's not gonna happen," Dora whispered to the big man who shrugged again. Dora threw her cloak on and hurried out to join her friends.

It was pouring now. The four of them bent their heads against the rain and began the trek up the hill to the castle. Fifteen minutes later, they sat in front of the fire in Gryffindor common room, drying themselves with bursts of hot air from their wands. Millie started her homework, Charlie picked up a book, and Rusty struck up a game of chess with Lano Smith. Dora sat a little off to one side on a small, red sofa, watching them all.

Rusty, an expert chess player, was creaming Lano. Dora smiled at the sight of Millie, always the responsible one of the bunch, diligently working on an essay for Herbology. Dora had been surprised when her friend had not been made Head Girl especially since she had been Gryffindor's sixth year, female prefect the year before. She turned her attention to Charlie, shaking her head. Hagrid was making assumptions. Charlie was good looking and about as sweet as they came but they were just friends.

One-by-one, they all drifted off to bed. Lano went first and Dora took his place playing chess. After beating her twice in rapid succession, Rusty went to bed as well. Charlie fell asleep on the couch and Millie and Dora poked him until he woke up and told him to go to bed. Millie went shortly thereafter and Dora followed her.

That night, Dora had the first dream.

In the dream she was standing in front of a mirror. She was in her natural form, long, dark hair, and gray eyes. Then her face and hair began to

change. At first, the changes were random. Blue eyes, brown hair. Pink hair, big nose. Purple eyes, bushy eyebrows. Then faces became familiar. She saw herself as many different people, faces flashing on and off, one right after another. She was her mother, then she was Millie, her father, Professor McGonagall, Charlie, Rusty. At first they were faces she saw often, friendly or a least not evil. Then the faces were those from her past. Lily, Remus, James, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius. There were tears streaming from the eyes of the ever-morphing face in the mirror but it kept changing. Now they were the people she feared and hated. Narcissa, Cassiopeia, Lucius, Rabastan, Sirius's mother, Calisto, Rodulphulus, Bellatrix. The mouth opened. She was screaming. The eyes flashed red…

She awoke, sweating, crying, screaming, kicking. Millie was by her bed, trying to calm her. Dora stopped screaming and kicking and let her friend sit on the edge of the bed. She was still crying.

"Bad dream?" Millie asked.

Dora nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. The other girls in the dormitory were sitting up and lighting their wands, confused.

"It's alright guys," said Millie quickly. "Go back to bed." The lights went out. "C'mon," whispered Millie, helping Dora up and leading her downstairs to the empty common room. Dora allowed her friend to push her into an armchair and drape a gold throw over her. Then Millie disappeared up the boy's staircase.

A minute or two later, she reappeared, two drowsy, ruffled boys behind her. The three of them silently slipped into the chairs around Dora's.

No one said anything, asked any questions, did anything at all. They just sat and Dora drew comfort from their presence. She knew they wouldn't try to make her say anything until she was ready and wouldn't leave her until they were certain that she was okay, even if she asked them to go.

"I was all alone," she whispered, " in a room with a mirror. I kept changing: my face, my hair, but I didn't have any control. Then I kept turning into people I know or knew. You guys, my parents. Then they were people who've died and Mum's family and…and I started crying and I was so scared because..." she trailed off as if unsure as to how to end her sentence.

There was silence for awhile. Not the uncomfortable kind, but the kind where everyone involved is simply trying to digest what the have just heard or said.

Finally Dora asked, "So what do you think it means?"

"You know Dora," said Charlie, "I reckon it doesn't really mean a thing."

"Yeah, I mean it was only a dream," said Rusty reassuringly.

"Yeah, it was only a dream," Dora repeated slowly.

But it kept coming back. Once or twice a month, sometimes more, the same dream slipped into the seventeen-year-old's mind as she slept. Every couple of weeks she awoke screaming and sweating and crying.

Eventually, she learned not to scream and her dreams no longer woke her roommates. She would lie in bed, tears rolling down her cheeks, alone. Not even Millie woke up, but she and the boys could always tell the next morning, just by the way Dora acted and by the slightly haunted look in her eyes. They never said anything but they knew and she knew they knew. They had a silent agreement between the four of them never to mention it again.

The first Hogsmeade weekend came early in October. As they were all currently single, the four of them went together. By two they had stocked up on enough candy, dungbombs, and school supplies to last them there whole lives or at least until their next visit. They made there way down the street toward the Three Broomsticks, arms laden with packages. They settled themselves down at a table in the back and ordered themselves mugs of butterbeer. Dora had had her dream the night before so she was much more subdued than usual. The four of them drank in silence for awhile until Charlie, in a random fit of combined curiosity and concern, broke their taboo.

"Dora," he said, "I think you should write them down."

"Huh?"

"Your dreamsI think you should write them down."

"Why?" she asked. "They're bad enough the first time around, I really don't need to relive them."

"Why do they scare you so much?"

"They don't scare me," said Dora defiantly, "they just aren't all that much fun."

"Well maybe if you write them down they won't be so…foreboding."

"Foreboding? I never said they were foreboding. Why do you use words like that anyway? Most people your age don't even know what it means," Dora, unwilling to discuss her dreams and her feelings about them, was growing annoyed.

Charlie knew he was pushing it. Rusty or Millie, who were both watching warily, would've dropped the subject, not wanting to become the object of their friend's wrath. Charlie however, ignored Dora's tone and her irritable comments.

"They do scare you, you said so" he told her. She began to protest but he cut her off; "My point is that if you wrote the dreams down it might help."

"I'd rather not, thank you," she answered coldly. "I need to get back to the castle, I've got homework."

She left.

Later that night, Charlie found her in the common room, working, for once in her life.

"Hey, mind if I sit down?" he asked.

She shrugged. He sat next to her and she stopped writing and turned to look expectantly at him.

"You don't talk about how you feel very often," he began. "You kind of shut down so I thought if you wrote things down at least you would have somewhere to put your thoughts."

"What are you? A shrink?" she asked, part kidding, part still annoyed.

He smiled slightly. "I'm sorry I pushed you," he said acknowledging the resentment.

"Apology accepted," she said slightly childishly.

"Good. I'm off to bed. Good night."

"Night, Charlie, thanks."

"For what?"

"Worrying about me."

He grinned. "Anytime, what are friends for?" He kissed her on the forehead and left.

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A/n: That's it. Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry if Hagrid's accent was weird,I did the best I could. Review!


	12. This Ruined Puzzle

A/n: Here it is, very late!

Discalimer: J.k. Rowling owns just about everything and I think she has better things to do than sue me. The song is by Dashboard Confessional (and no the chapter is not as depressing as the song.)

* * *

This Ruined Puzzle

By Dashboard Confessional

I've hidden a note,  
it's pressed between pages that you've marked to find your way back.  
It says, "Does he ever get the girl?"  
But what if the pages stay pressed,  
the chapters unfinished,  
the storied too dull to unfold?  
Does he ever get the girl?

* * *

It was Halloween. Mounds of food covered the tables and the students ate, talked, and laughed, filled with the light, cheerful mood of the holiday. At Gryffindor table, a sixth year Ravenclaw girl was trying a bit too hard to impress a certain Charlie Weasley. Charlie, desperate to get away but not wanting to be rude, resorted to desperate measures. He furrowed his brow, then raised his eyebrows and jerked his head to one side. Dora saw him, and recognizing the signal that she had made up, excused herself from her conversation with Nearly Headless Nick and Rusty and slid into the seat next to Charlie. 

"Hey sweetie," she said kissing him on the cheek. The girl looked confused. Had she been a Gryffindor she would have known about "The Secret Signal." When Charlie or Rusty performed the signal Charlie had just used, one of the girls would come to rescue them from whatever romantic predicament they had gotten themselves into. Likewise, Charlie and Rusty were sworn to save Millie or Dora if they made the signal. Gryffindors generally heard of or figured out the system fairly early on but the rest of the school remained oblivious and excessively confused about the relationships concerning the four.

After a few confused blinks, the girl continued to talk. Rolling her eyes and wondering how the kid had ever made it into Ravenclaw, Dora kissed Charlie again, this time on the lips. The girl jumped up and hurried back to her own table, hurt and humiliated.

"Cruel but effective," Rusty noted to Nick.

* * *

Later that night, Dora and her friends took a midnight stroll. 

"Dora" whined Millie, "What do we need to go to Hogsmeade for? We'll get detention."

"Aw c'mon," said Dora, "we haven't snuck out in ages."

She led the way to a statue of a hunched, one-eyed witch.

"What's this? What about the mirror?" asked Charlie. They always used a passage behind a huge mirror on the fourth floor when they snuck out to Hogsmeade. Dora had discovered that passage at the beginning of their second year and it hadn't failed them yet.

"Fred and George told me about this one."

"My brothers?"

"Yeah. Get this, it leads straight to Honeydukes!"

"Honeydukes! Merlin Dora! The owners of Honeydukes live right above the shop, they'll catch us," hissed Millie.

Dora ignored her. She tapped the witch and whispered "_Dissendium._"

The witch's hump opened and Dora hopped in without hesitation. The others followed grudgingly. They ran for miles through the tunnel, emerging in the Honeydukes storeroom. They crept up the steps single file. Once they were in the store, all doubts left them and soon all four students had filled their pockets and bags with Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, chocolate frogs, chatter cakes, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, and vast variety of other sweets. They had just begun to file back into the storeroom when Dora stopped them. She turned, walked to the counter, and proceeded to pay for everything she had just took. Her friends stared at her like she was crazy. "The fun of this particular excursion, " she explained, "was being here in the middle of the night. We can shoplift anytime we want but we can't do two dishonest things at once, it's wrong."

Instead of pointing out that sneaking into a store in the middle of the night was wrong in and of itself, Millie and Rusty each plopped a few Galleons onto the counter. Charlie meanwhile dug through his pockets, discovering only a few Knuts. He was about to add these to the pile when Dora stopped him and put four Galleons on the table to cover the cost of his candy. Charlie opened his mouth to protest but Dora clapped a hand over his mouth. She stood perfectly for a moment, listening. Her friends heard it too, footsteps. They stood frozen for a moment. Then, simultaneously, they fled the crime scene.

Millie reached the trapdoor first. She wrenched it open and dove in. Rusty followed. Charlie was next. He had one foot through when a man's voice came from the store above; "Who's there? Who's there." Charlie froze, Dora gave him a shove and he slipped into the passage. The door to the storeroom opened. Dora clambered though the door and down the steps, closing the trapdoor moments before the light of a wand filled the room they had just left.

A half an hour later, the four students collapsed in the common room, laughing.

* * *

The rest of November passed slowly and rather uneventfully. Late in the month, Dora sat up late with her friends eating eclairs and pistachio nuts they'd nicked from the kitchens. 

"I'm gonna grab some more food," said Dora.

"Need a hand?" asked Charlie.

"Sure," was the response from his friend, who was already halfway through the portrait hole. Charlie ran after her. After retrieving heaps of pastries and other random foodstuffs including a large jar of peanut butter, they began the trek back to the common room.

"You know, it's been six years since the four of us became friends," said Dora.

Charlie nodded. "Starting when we met in the kitchens," he reminded her.

"In detention," she added, grinning up at him.

"The first of… how many have we had together?"

"Sixty-four, plus I've had at least fifty alone."

He whistled and they walked in silence for awhile.

"Hey Dora," said Charlie as the approached the common room.

"Hmm?"

He stopped and she followed his lead, turning to face him.

"Hogsmeade is coming up in a couple of weeks isn't it?"

She nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"Do you…er…do you want to go with me?"

"Well we always…oh!" The color rose in both their faces as she realized what he meant. She looked down. "I don't think so Charlie, it would be…weird." She looked up and watched his face.

He nodded, "Yeah…yeah it would…just never mind." He murmured the password to the fat lady and walked in. Dora watched him go then sighed and followed.

A few days passed. Charlie didn't bring up Hogsmeade again and Dora didn't either, she didn't even tell Millie that he'd asked. She was sure she had been right to refuse. It would have been too awkward. Not that it wasn't awkward now anyway. More than once Dora silently cursed Charlie for bringing it up in the first place. _If he wasn't one of my best friends I would have said yes,_ she thought, _maybe…_ but she shook the thought off. Still, when Cohen Mallows, the attractive captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, asked her to Hogsmeade, she refused.

The problem was, Dora's feelings toward Charlie had changed, whether she accepted it or not. She found herself watching him, thinking of him, all the while trying not to.

On Saturday, Dora and her friends set off toward the town. Three of the four were wrapped in their warmest cloaks, scarves and hats.

"Uh, Dora," said Millie, "you forgot your cloak."

Dora looked down, "Oh damn! You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." She turned and dashed back up the stairs to the dormitory. She grabbed her cloak from her trunk and started toward the door of the room. Passing the window, Dora glimpsed Rusty, Millie, and Charlie walking across the snowy grounds. She stared for a minute then ran out of the dormitory and common room, throwing on her cloak as she went. She reached the grounds running, "Hey," she screamed. "Hey Charlie!"

He turned and cocked his head to the side inquisitively. She slowed as she reached him stopping when her toes were just inches from his. She grinned then stood on her toes and kissed him on the mouth. He was shocked for a moment, then kissed her back.

The students around them burst into applause.

When they broke away, Charlie said, "But I thought—"

"I changed my mind."

"So then…does this…" he stammered.

She shrugged and he grinned and kissed her.

A few feet away stood Russle Grant, staring and confused. He looked at Millie. She laughed at look on his face and pulled him away.

* * *

A/n: There. Hope it was worth the wait. It was so incredibly hard to write. 

Review!


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